March 7: St. Thomas Aquinas, C., D., O.P., I Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, of the Order of Preachers.  Piercing a hole straight through the somber, penitential season of Lent, the feast of the Angel of the Schools is I Class, so the festive office is prayed according to the rubrics.  A commemoration of Ember Saturday of Lent is made at Lauds.  All is given in the Proper of the Saints.

At Pretiosa yesterday, we read from the Dominican Martyrology:

In the monastery of Fossa Nuova, near Terracina, St. Thomas Aquinas of the Order of Preachers, confessor and Doctor of the Church. He was most illustrious for nobility of birth, holiness of life, and knowledge of theology. He preserved until death the grace of virginity. On account of the extraordinary superiority of his learning, he rightly earned the title of "Angelic Doctor." His writings, remarkable for the solidity of doctrine and approved by our Lord Himself, marvelously illuminate as dazzling lights the Catholic Church and every school of the orthodox world. Leo XIII declared him to be the celestial patron of all Catholic schools.

The Dominican Office for this feast contains spiritually rich proper antiphons and hymns.  Some of my favorites include the super psalm antiphon at 1st Vespers:

The Blessed Thomas, Doctor of the Church, light of the world, glory of Italy, virgin shining with the bloom of chastity, rejoices in a twofold crown of glory.

Dominican Compline During Lent - 1st Sunday of Lent to the III Sunday of Lent

 The most unique and distinguishing element of the Dominican Breviary, that sets it apart from the Roman, is the variability in the Office of Compline.  And no where is this rich variability more evident than during the seasons of Lent, Passiontide, Paschaltide, Ascensiontide, and throughout the octave of Pentecost, when the hymn, Little Chapter, and responses change substantially.

The Ferial Office During Lent

It seems as though we were just celebrating Christmas.  Already, the wheel of the liturgical year has moved through the seasons of the Epiphany and Septuagesima, and now we have entered the holy season of Lent.

In the Dominican Breviary, the ferial office in Lent season is similar to that of the Roman Breviary, with slight differences.

The ferial days in Lent (Quadragesima) are III Class, and take precedence over III Class feasts of saints and blesseds.  So when the III Class feast of a saint or blessed occurs on the calendar, a commemoration is made of that feast.

Though March is a sparse month in the in the 1962 Dominican sanctorale, it does contain the feast of the Angelic Doctor on March 7.  This feast, which temporarily lightens the heaviness of the penitential season of Lent is 1st Class in the Dominican Rite.  It takes precedence over the ferial days of Lent, so we only make a commemoration of the ferial office (error alert on my calendar!!) at Lauds and Vespers.  

February 6: Anniversary Of Our Deceased Parents

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we commemorate the Anniversary of the Deceased Parents of the members of our Order.  The ferial office is prayed, with a commemoration of Ss. Vedast and Amand.  At Pretiosa, the Anniversary is announced as follows:

"The anniversary of our Fathers and Mothers;"

Psalm 129 is prayed, as it always is on the day of an Anniversary.  Afterwards, the Prayer for the Anniversary is prayed:

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.

February 2: The Purification of the B. V. M., II Class

Today, the Christmas season finally comes to an official end, with the glorious feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is one of those feasts in the Dominican Office which contains a responsory at 1st Vespers (and at the ix lesson at Matins) which is, shall we say, antagonistic toward the unbelieving Jews and directly mocks their own lack of faith in our Lady's perpetual virginity.  (Another one can be found at 2nd Vespers of Easter Sunday, which mocks their lack of belief in the Resurrection).

The 1962 Breviarium SOP retained the pre-reformed office of 1st Vespers (for use where it is celebrated as a 1st Class Feast).  That hour includes an arrangement that, to my knowledge, does not appear on any other feast in the Dominican Breviary.  I also don;t see it in the monastic or Roman Breviaries.

After the Little Chapter is prayed, the respond is prayed as follows:

℟. Rejoice, Virgin Mary, alone you have destroyed all heresies. You trusted in the words of the archangel Gabriel. * While a virgin, you brought forth God and man; and after childbirth, you remained a virgin inviolate.  ℣.  We know that the angel Gabriel spoke to you by God's decree; we believe that your womb was made fruitful by the Holy Spirit.  Let the unhappy Jew blush who says that Christ was born of Joseph's seed. - While a virgin. - Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

At this point, the resumption of the respond is omitted, and instead the Inviolata prayer is immediately taken up:

Mary, Maid inviolate, chaste and undefiled,  Mother well beloved of Christ, your own true child.You were made the shining gate of Heaven above,Accept from us these words of praise we offer you with love.We now implore devoutly, from the heart within,That our souls be stainless, our bodies free from sin.May you bring us ever is our earnest prayer,  The pardon that is granted through your moving pleading rare.O gracious one who alone has remained immaculate.

A genuflection is made immediately, as the Ave maris stella is begun, until the second stanza.

Happy Feast Day!

LOST FEASTS: January 28: Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Aquinas

 One of the casualties of the revision of the Breviary undertaken by St. Pius X, was the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Aquinas.  To commemorate the transferal of the Angelic Doctor's relics to Toulouse on January 28, 1369, the general chapter of that year, with the permission of Pope Urban V, instituted a liturgical feast on January 28.  The feast was given the rank of totum duplex.  A commemoration was also made of the "second feast" of St. Agnes on this day.

January 23: St. Raymond of Pennafort, C., O.P., III Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of St. Raymond of Pennafort, Confessor, of the Order of Preachers. At the time the 1962 Breviary was published, his feast was III Class and contained a near complete set of propers for the entire office. So the semi-festive office is prayed, according to the rubrics. Between then, and the printing of the 1967 English translation of the Breviary, the Order made his feast II Class. At Lauds, the Psalms of Sunday are prayed and a commemoration of St. Emerentiana, virgin and martyr is made.

From “Short Lives of the Dominican Saints” (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901):