Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Saint Hyacinth, Confessor
White Double One of the loveliest lilies from the Dominican field today unfurls its petals at the foot of Mary’s throne. Hyacinth represents on the sacred cycle that intrepid band of missionaries who, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, faced the barbarism of the Tartars and Mussulmans which was threatening the West. From the Alps […]
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Octave of Saint Laurence
Red At Christmas Stephen watched beside the crib, where the Infant God attracted our hearts; Laurence today escorts the Queen whose beauty outshines the heavens. It was fitting that a deacon should be present at both triumphs of love, shown at Bethlehem in the weakness of the Babe, and in heaven in the glory […]
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Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Within the Octave of the Assumption; Saint Joachim, Confessor, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary
White Double of the Second Class From time immemorial the Greeks have celebrated the feast of St. Joachim on the day following our Lady’s birthday. The Maronites kept it on the day after the Presentation in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The […]
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Monday, August 15, 2022
Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin
White Double of the First Class (with a common Octave) “Today the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven; rejoice, for she reigns with Christ forever.” The Church will close her chants on this glorious day with this sweet antiphon which resumes the object of the feast and the spirit in which it should be celebrated. No […]
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Sunday, August 14, 2022
The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
Green Semidouble The destruction of Jerusalem has closed that portion of the prophetic Scriptures which were based on the institutions and history of the figurative period. The Altar of the true God, built by Solomon on the the summit of Moriah, was the authenticated evidence of the true religion, to those who were then living […]
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Vigil of the Assumption
Violet What is this aurora before which the brightest constellations pale? Laurence, who has been shining in the August heavens as an incomparable star, is well nigh eclipsed, and becomes but the humble satellite of the Queen of Saints, whose triumph is preparing beyond the clouds. Mary stayed on earth after her Son’s Ascension, […]
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Saturday, August 13, 2022
Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs
Red Simple Not far from the sepulcher of St. Laurence, on the opposite side of the Tiburtian Way, lies the tomb of St. Hippolytus, one of the sanctuaries most dear to the Christians in the days of triumph. Prudentius has described the magnificence of the crypt, and the immense concourse attracted to it each year […]
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Friday, August 12, 2022
Saint Clare, Virgin
White Double The same year in which St. Dominic, before making any project with regard to his sons, founded the first establishment of the Sisters of his Order, the companion destined for him by heaven received his mission from the Crucifix in the church of St. Damian, in these words: “Go, Francis, repair my house […]
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Thursday, August 11, 2022
Second Day Within the Octave of St. Laurence; Saints Tibertius and Susanna, Martyrs
Red Simple Laurence is followed today by the son of Chromatius, prefect of Rome, Tiburtius, who also suffered upon burning coals for the confession of his faith. Though forty years intervened between the two martyrdoms, it was the same Holy Spirit that animated these witnesses of Christ and suggested to them the same answer to […]
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Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Saint Laurence, Deacon and Martyr
Red Double of the Second Class (with a Simple Octave) “Once the mother of false gods, but now the bride of Christ, O Rome, it is through Laurence thou art victorious! Thou hadst conquered haughty monarchs and subjected nations to thine empire; but though thou hadst overcome barbarism, thy glory was incomplete till thou hadst […]
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