21 DECEMBER – SAINT THOMAS (Apostle and Martyr)

 

Thomas the Apostle who was also named Didymus was a Galilean. After he had received the Holy Ghost he travelled through many provinces preaching the Gospel of Christ. He taught the principles of Christian faith and practice to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hircanians and Bactrians. He finally went to the Indies and instructed the inhabitants of those countries in the Christian religion. Up to the last he gained for himself the esteem of all men by the holiness of his life and teaching, and by the wonderful miracles he wrought. He stirred up, also, in their hearts, the love of Jesus Christ. The King of those parts, a worshipper of idols was, on the contrary, only the more irritated by all these things. He condemned the Saint to be pierced to death by javelins, which punishment was inflicted at Calamina and gave Thomas the highest honour of his Apostolate, the crown of martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This is the last Feast the Church keeps before the great one of the Nativity of her Lord and Spouse. She interrupts the Greater Ferias in order to pay her tribute of honour to Thomas, the Apostle of Christ, whose glorious martyrdom has consecrated this twenty-first day of December, and has procured for the Christian people a powerful patron that will introduce them to the divine babe of Bethlehem. To none of the Apostles could this day have been so fittingly assigned as to Saint Thomas. It was Saint Thomas whom we needed, Saint Thomas whose festal patronage would aid us to believe and hope in that God whom we see not, and who comes to us in silence and humility in order to try our Faith. Saint Thomas was once guilty of doubting, when he ought to have believed, and only learnt the necessity of Faith by the sad experience of incredulity: he comes then most appropriately to defend us, by the power of his example and prayers, against the temptations which proud human reason might excite within us. Let us pray to him with confidence. In that Heaven of Light and Vision where his repentance and love have placed him, he will intercede for us and gain for us that docility of mind and heart which will enable us to see and recognise Him who is the Expected of Nations and who, though the King of the world, will give no other signs of His majesty than the swaddling-clothes and tears of a babe.

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O glorious Apostle Thomas, who led to Christ so many unbelieving nations, hear now the prayers of the faithful who beseech you to lead them to that same Jesus who, in five days, will have shown Himself to His Church. That we may merit to appear in His divine presence we need, before all other graces, the light which leads to Him. That light is Faith: then, pray that we may have Faith. Heretofore our Saviour had compassion on your weakness and deigned to remove from you the doubt of His having risen from the grave. Pray to Him for us that He will mercifully come to our assistance and make Himself felt by our heart. We ask not, O holy Apostle, to see Him with the eyes of our body, but with those of our faith, for He said to you when He showed Himself to you: “Blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed!” Of this happy number, we desire to be. We beseech you, therefore, pray that we may obtain the Faith of the heart and will that so, when we behold the divine infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in a manger, we may cry out: “My Lord and my God!” Pray, holy Apostle, for the nations you evangelised, but which have fallen back again into the shades of death. May the day soon come when the Sun of Justice will once more shine on them. Bless the efforts of those apostolic men who have devoted their labours and their very lives to the work of the Missions. Pray that the days of darkness may be shortened, and that the countries which were watered by your blood may at length see that kingdom of God established among them which you preached to them, and for which we also are in waiting.

THE GREAT ANTIPHON OF SAINT THOMAS

O Thomas! Didymus! who merited to see Christ; we beseech you, by most earnest supplication, help us miserable sinners, lest we be condemned with the ungodly at the Coming of the Judge.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Tuscany, the holy martyrs John and Festus.

In Lycia, St. Themistocles, martyr, who under the emperor Decius, offered himself in the place of St. Dioscorus, who was sought after to be killed, and being racked, dragged about and beaten with rods, obtained the crown of martyrdom.

At Nicomedia, during the persecution of Diocletian, St. Glycerins, a priest, who was subjected to many torments, and finally completed his martyrdom by being cast into the flames.

At Antioch, St. Anastasius, bishop and martyr, who was cruelly murdered by the Jews during the reign of Phocas.

At Treves, St. Severin, bishop and confessor.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

21 DECEMBER – EMBER SATURDAY IN ADVENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Lessons from the Prophet Isaias are interrupted today also, and a Homily on the Gospel of the Mass is read in their place. As this Gospel is repeated in the Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent, which is tomorrow, we will for the present omit it and be satisfied with mentioning the reason of the same Gospel being assigned to the two days. The primitive custom in the Roman Church was to hold Ordinations in the night between Saturday and Sunday, just as Baptism was administered to the Catechumens in the night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The ceremony took place towards midnight, and Sunday morning was always far advanced before the termination so that the Mass of Ordination was considered as the Mass of Sunday itself. Later on, discipline relaxed, and these severe vigils were given up. The Ordination Mass, like that of Holy Saturday, was anticipated. And, as the fourth Sunday of Advent and the second of Lent had not hitherto had a proper Gospel, since they had not had a proper Mass, it was settled about the tenth or eleventh century, that the Gospel of the Mass of Ordinations should be repeated in the special Mass of the two Sundays in question.

Gospel – Luke iii. 1‒6

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Judea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina; Under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.  Every valley will be filled; and every mountain and hill will be brought low; and the crooked will be made straight; and the rough ways plain; And all flesh will see the salvation of God.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Homily – Saint Gregory the Great:

The date at which the Forerunner of our Redeemer entered on his public office of preaching is indicated to us by the name of the ruler of the Roman Commonwealth, and by those of the princes of Palestine. The time of his preaching is indicated by these names because he came as the Fore-runner of Him who was to be the Redeemer of some Jews and many Gentiles. Moreover in the enumeration of these worldly monarchs there is a foreshadowing of the fact that the Gentiles were about to be gathered into one, and the Jews to be scattered abroad in punishment of their unbelief. In the whole heathen Commonwealth we find the title of one Emperor, but in the small kingdom of Judaea are mentioned four masters.

 

21 DECEMBER – FIFTH GREAT ANTIPHON

FIFTH GREATER ANTIPHON

O Orient! splendour of eternal light, and Sun of Justice! Come and enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

O Jesus, divine Sun! You are coming to snatch us from eternal night: blessed forever be your infinite goodness! But you put our faith to the test before showing yourself in all your brightness. You hide your rays until the time decreed by your heavenly Father comes, in which all your beauty will break upon the world. You are traversing Judea. You are near Jerusalem. The journey of Mary and Joseph is near its term. Crowds of men pass or meet you on the road, each one hurrying to his native town, there to be enrolled as the Edict commands. Not one of all these suspects that you, O divine Orient! are so near him. They see your Mother Mary, and they see nothing in her above the rest of women. Or if they are impressed by the majesty and incomparable modesty of this august Queen, it is but a vague feeling of surprise at there being such dignity in one so poor as she is, and they soon forget her again. If the Mother is thus an object of indifference to them, it is not to be expected that they will give even so much as a thought to her child that is not yet born. And yet this child is yourself, O Sun of Justice! Oh increase our faith, but increase too our love. If these men loved you, O Redeemer of mankind, you wouldst give them the grace to feel your presence. Their eyes, indeed, would not yet see you, but their hearts, at least, would burn within them, they would long for your Coming, and would hasten it by their prayers and sighs. Dearest Jesus! who thus traverses the world you have created, and who forces not the homage of your creatures, we wish to keep near you during the rest of this your journey: we kiss the footsteps of Her that carries you in her womb. We will not leave you until we arrive together with you at Bethlehem, that House of Bread, where, at last, our eyes will see you, O splendour of eternal light, our Lord and our God!

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The vigil of St. Thomas, Apostle.

At Rome, the holy martyrs Liberatus and Bajulus.

At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, Ingen and Theophilus, soldiers, who, standing near the tribunals and seeing a Christian trembling under the torture and almost on the point of apostatising, endeavoured to encourage him by their looks and by signs, and when for this reason the whole people raised an outcry against them, they rushed forward and declared themselves Christians. By their victory, Christ, who had given to them such fortitude, triumphed most gloriously.

At Gelduba, St. Julius, martyr.

In Arabia, the holy martyrs Eugene and Macarius, priests. For reproving Julian the Apostate for his impiety, they received a most severe scourging, were banished to a vast desert, and finally were put to the sword.

At Antioch, the birthday of St. Philogonius, bishop, who was called by the will of God from the practice of law to the government of that church. With the saintly bishop Alexander and other auxiliaries, he engaged the first combat for the Catholic faith against Arius, and, being renowned for merits, rested in the Lord. His festival was commemorated by St. John Chrysostom with an excellent panegyric.

At Brescia, St. Dominic, bishop and confessor.

In Spain, the departure from this world of St. Dominic de Sylos, Abbot, of the Order of St. Benedict, most renowned for the miracles he wrought for the deliverance of captives.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

20 DECEMBER – EMBER FRIDAY IN ADVENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church does not read anything from the Prophet Isaias today. She merely gives, in the Office of Matins, a sentence of that chapter of Saint Luke’s Gospel which relates the mystery of our Lady’s Visitation: and to this she subjoins a fragment of Saint Ambrose’s Homily upon that passage. The considerations and affections with which this important event of our Lady’s life ought to inspire the faithful will be given further on in the Proper of the Saints.

The Station for today is in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which many suppose to have been first built by Constantine, and in which the glorious bodies of the two holy Apostles Philip and James the Less, buried under the altar, await the second Coming of Him who chose them as his co-operators in the work of the first and who, on the last day, will give them to sit upon thrones near His own, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel (Matthew xix.).

Gospel – Luke i. 39

At that time: Mary arose, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Homily – Saint Ambrose of Milan:

When any one asks another for credence, he is bound to give some reasonable ground. And so the Angel, when he announced to Mary the counsel of God, gave as a proof the conception of Elizabeth, then aged and barren, that Mary might perceive by this example that with God nothing is impossible. When the holy Virgin had heard it she arose and went to visit her cousin. She did not go to see if what she had heard was true, because she did not believe God or because she knew not who the messenger had been, or yet because she doubted the fact adduced in proof. She went joyfully as one who has received a mercy in answer to his vows goes to pay the same. She went with devotion, as a godly person goes to execute a religious duty. She went into the hill country in joyful haste. And is it not something that she went up into the hills? God was already in her womb, and her feeling bore her continually upward. The grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow working.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Philippi in Macedonia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Rufus and Zosimus (107 AD), who were of the number of the disciples by whom the primitive church was founded among the Jews and Greeks. Their happy martyrdom is mentioned by St. Polycarp in his Epistle to the Philippians.

At Laodicea in Syria, the martyrdom of the Saints Theotimus and Basilian.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Quinctus, Simplicius and others, who suffered in the persecution of Decius and Valerian.

In the same country, St. Moysetes, martyr.

Also in Africa, the holy martyrs Victurus, Victor, Victorinus, Adjutor, Quartus and thirty others.

At Mopsuestia in Cilicia, St. Auxentius, bishop, who, while he was a soldier under Licinius, preferred to surrender his military insignia rather than to offer grapes to Bacchus. Having been made bishop, he was renowned for merit and rested in peace.

At Tours, St. Gratian, consecrated first bishop of that city by Pope St. Fabrian. Celebrated for many miracles, he calmly went to his repose in the Lord.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

 

 

20 DECEMBER – FOURTH GREATER ANTIPHON

FOURTH GREATER ANTIPHON

O Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel! Who opens, and no man shuts: who shuts, and no man opens; come and lead the captive from prison, sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

O Jesus, Son of David! Heir to his throne and his power! You are now passing over in your way to Bethlehem, the land that once was the kingdom of your ancestor but now is tributary to the Gentiles. Scarce an inch of this ground which has not witnessed the miracles of the justice and the mercy of Jehovah, your Father, to the people of that old Covenant, which is so soon to end. Before long, when you have come from beneath the virginal cloud which now hides you, you will pass along this same road doing good (Acts x. 38), healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity (Matthew iv. 23), and yet having not where to lay your head (Luke ix. 58). Now, at least, your Mother’s womb affords you the sweetest rest, and you receive from her the profoundest adoration and the tenderest love. But, dear Jesus, it is your own blessed will that you leave this loved abode. You have, O Eternal Light, to shine in the midst of this world’s darkness, this prison where the Captive whom you have come to deliver sits in the shadow of death. Open his prison gates by your all-powerful Key. And who is this Captive, but the human race, the slave of error and vice? Who is this Captive, but the heart of man which is thrall to the very passions it blushes to obey? Oh! Come and set at liberty the world you have enriched by your grace, and the creatures whom you have made to be your own brethren.

ANTIPHON TO THE ANGEL GABRIEL

O Gabriel! the Messenger of Heaven, who came to me through the closed doors and announced the Word to me: You will conceive and bear a Son, and he will be called Emmanuel.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Alexandria in Egypt, blessed Nemesius, martyr, who was first denounced before the judge as a robber, but on being freed from that charge, was soon after, in the persecution of Decius, accused before the judge Emilian of being a Christian. By him he was twice subjected to the torture, and condemned to be burned alive with robbers, thus bearing a resemblance to Our Saviour who was crucified with thieves.

At Nicaea, the Saints Darius, Zosimus, Paul and Secundus, martyrs.

At Nicomedia, the holy martyrs Cyriacus, Paulillus, Secundus, Anastasius, Sindimius and their companions.

In Mauritania (Barbary), St. Timothy, deacon, who, after enduring a painful imprisonment for the faith of Christ, was cast into the fire, where he consummated his martyrdom.

At Gaza in Palestine, the martyrdom of the Saints Meuris and Thea.

At Avignon, blessed Pope Urban V, who deserved well of the Church by restoring the Apostolic See to Rome, by bringing about a reunion of the Latins and Greeks, and by suppressing heretics. Blessed Pius IX approved and confirmed the veneration which had long been paid to him.

At Auxerre, St. Gregory, bishop and confessor.

At Orleans, St. Adjutus, an abbot renowned for the spirit of prophecy.

At Rome, St. Fausta, mother of St. Anastasia, distinguished for noble birth and piety.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

19 DECEMBER – THIRD GREATER ANTIPHON

THIRD GREATER ANTIPHON

O Root of Jesse, who stands as the standard of the people; before whom Kings will not open their lips; to whom the nations will pray: come and deliver us; tarry now no more.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

At length, O Son of Jesse! you are approaching the city of your ancestors. The Ark of the Lord has risen and journeys with the God that is in her to the place of her rest. “How beautiful are your steps, O daughter of the Prince” (Canticles vii. 1) now that you are bringing to the cities of Judah their salvation! The Angels escort you, your faithful Joseph lavishes his love upon you, Heaven delights in you, and our Earth thrills with joy to bear thus upon itself its Creator and its Queen. Go forward, O Mother of God and Mother of Men! Speed thee, thou Propitiatory that holds within you the divine Manna which gives us life! Our hearts are with you, and count your steps. Like your royal ancestor David, we will enter not into the dwelling of our house, nor go up into the bed whereon we lie, nor give sleep to our eyes, nor rest to our temples, until we have found a place in our hearts for the Lord whom you bear, a tabernacle for this God of Jacob” (Psalm cxxxi. 3, 4, 5). Come, then, O Root of Jesse! Thus hid in this Ark of purity, you will soon appear before your people as the standard round which all that would conquer must rally. Then, their enemies, the Kings of the world, will be silenced, and the nations will offer you their prayers. Hasten your coming, dear Jesus! Come and conquer all our enemies, and deliver us.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Alexandria in Egypt, blessed Nemesius, martyr, who was first denounced before the judge as a robber, but on being freed from that charge, was soon after, in the persecution of Decius, accused before the judge Emilian of being a Christian. By him he was twice subjected to the torture, and condemned to be burned alive with robbers, thus bearing a resemblance to Our Saviour who was crucified with thieves.

At Nicaea, the Saints Darius, Zosimus, Paul and Secundus, martyrs.

At Nicomedia, the holy martyrs Cyriacus, Paulillus, Secundus, Anastasius, Sindimius and their companions.

In Mauritania (Barbary), St. Timothy, deacon, who, after enduring a painful imprisonment for the faith of Christ, was cast into the fire, where he consummated his martyrdom.

At Gaza in Palestine, the martyrdom of the Saints Meuris and Thea.

At Avignon, blessed Pope Urban V, who deserved well of the Church by restoring the Apostolic See to Rome, by bringing about a reunion of the Latins and Greeks, and by suppressing heretics. Blessed Pius IX approved and confirmed the veneration which had long been paid to him.

At Auxerre, St. Gregory, bishop and confessor.

At Orleans, St. Adjutus, an abbot renowned for the spirit of prophecy.

At Rome, St. Fausta, mother of St. Anastasia, distinguished for noble birth and piety.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

18 DECEMBER – EMBER WEDNESDAY IN ADVENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Today the Church begins the Fast of Quatuor Tempora, or, as we call it, of Ember days: it includes also the Friday and Saturday of this same week. This observance is not peculiar to the Advent liturgy. It is one which has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year. We may consider it as one of those practices which the Church took from the Synagogue, for the Prophet Zacharias speaks of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months (Zacharias viii. 19). Its introduction into the Christian Church would seem to have been made in the apostolic times. Such, at least, is the opinion of Saint Leo, of Saint Isidore of Seville, of Rabanus Maurus, and of several other ancient Christian writers. It is remarkable, on the other hand, that the Orientals do not observe this fast. From the first ages, the Quatuor Tempora were kept in the Roman Church at the same time of the year as at present. As to the expression, which is not infrequently used in the early writers, of The Three Times and not The Four, we must remember, that in the spring these Days always come in the first week of Lent, a period already consecrated to the most rigorous fasting and abstinence, and that consequently they could add nothing to the penitential exercises of that portion of the year.

The intentions which the Church has in the fast of the Ember Days are the same as those of the Synagogue: namely, to consecrate to God by penance the four Seasons of the year. The Ember Days of Advent are known in ecclesiastical antiquity by the name of the Fast of the tenth Month, and Saint Leo, in one of his Sermons on this Fast, and of which the Church has inserted a passage in the second Nocturn of the third Sunday of Advent, tells us that a special fast was fixed for this time of the year because the fruits of the earth had then all been gathered in and that it behoved Christians to testify their gratitude to God by a sacrifice of abstinence, thus rendering themselves more worthy to approach to God, the more they were detached from the love of created things, “for Fasting,” adds the holy Doctor, “has ever been the nourishment of virtue. Abstinence is the source of chaste thoughts, of wise resolutions, and of salutary counsel. By voluntary mortifications, the flesh dies to its concupiscences and the spirit is renewed in virtue. But since Fasting alone is not sufficient by which to secure the soul’s salvation, let us add to it works of mercy towards the poor. Let us make that which we retrench from indulgence, serve to the exercise of virtue. Let the abstinence of him that fasts become the meal of the poor man.”

Let us, the children of the Church, practise what is in our power of these admonitions. And since the actual discipline of Advent is so very mild, let us be so much the more fervent in fulfilling the precept of the fast of the Ember Days. By these few exercises which are now required of us, let us keep up within ourselves the zeal of our forefathers for this holy season of Advent. We must never forget, that although the interior preparation is what is absolutely essential for our profiting by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet this preparation could scarcely be real unless it manifested itself by the exterior practices of religion and penance.

The fast of the Ember Days has another object besides that of consecrating the four seasons of the year to God by an act of penance. It has also in view the Ordination of the Ministers of the Church, which takes place on the Saturday and of which notice was formerly given to the people during the Mass of the Wednesday. In the Roman Church the Ordination held in the month of December was for a long time the most solemn of all, and it would appear from the ancient Chronicles of the Popes that, excepting very extraordinary cases, the tenth month was for several ages the only time for the conferring Holy Orders in Rome. The faithful should unite with the Church in this her intention, and offer to God their fasting and abstinence for the purpose of obtaining worthy Ministers of the Word and the Sacraments, and true Pastors of the people. The Church does not read anything, in the Matins of today, from the Prophet Isaias: she merely reads a sentence from the Chapter of Saint Luke which gives our Lady’s Annunciation, to which she subjoins a passage from Saint Ambrose’s Homily on that Gospel.

The fact of this Gospel having been chosen for the Office and Mass of today has made the Wednesday of the third week of Advent a very marked day in the calendar. In several ancient Ordinaries used by many of the larger Churches, both Cathedral and Abbatial, we find it prescribed that feasts falling on this Wednesday should be transferred: that the ferial prayers should not be said kneeling on that day; that the Gospel Missus est, that is, of the Annunciation, should be sung at Matins by the Celebrant, vested in a white cope, with cross, lights and incense, the great bell tolling meanwhile; that in Abbeys, the Abbot should preach a homily to the Monks, as on solemn feasts. We are indebted to this custom for the four magnificent Sermons of Saint Bernard on our Blessed Lady, and which are entitled: Super Missus est.

Gospel – Luke i. 26

At that time: The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Homily – Saint Ambrose of Milan:

The mysteries of God are unsearchable, and it is especially declared by a Prophet that a man can hardly know His counsels (Wisdom ix. 13) Nevertheless, some things have been revealed to us, and we may gather from some of the words and works of the Lord our Saviour, that there was a special purpose of God, in the fact that she who was chosen to be the mother of the Lord was espoused to a man. Why did not the power of the Highest overshadow her before she was so espoused? Perhaps it was lest any might blasphemously say that she had conceived in adultery the Holy One.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Heron, Arsenius and Isidore, and Dioscorus, a boy. In the persecution of Decius, the first three were subjected to all the refinements of cruelty by the judge, who, seeing them displaying the same constancy, ordered that they should be cast into the fire. But Dioscorus, after repeated scourgings, was set free through the intervention of divine Providence for the consolation of the faithful.

At Antioch, the birthday of the holy martyrs Drusus, Zosimus and Theodore.

The same day, the martyrdom of the Saints Justus and Abundius, who were cast into the flames in the time of the emperor Numerian and the governor Olybrius, but having escaped uninjured, they were struck with the sword.

At Rheims, the holy bishop Nicasius, his sister, the virgin Eutropia, and their companions, martyrs, who were put to death by barbarians hostile to the Church.

On the island of Cyprus, the birthday of blessed Spiridion, bishop. He was one of those confessors who were condemned to labour in the mines, after the plucking out of their right eye and the severing of the sinews of the left knee. This prelate was renowned for the gift of prophecy and glorious miracles, and in the Council of Nicaea he confounded a heathen philosopher who insulted the Christian religion and brought him to the faith.

At Bergamo, St. Viator, bishop and confessor.

At Pavia, St. Pompey, bishop.

At Naples in Campania, St. Agnellus, abbot. Illustrious by the gift of miracles, he was often seen with the standard of the cross delivering the city besieged by enemies.

At Ubeda in Spain, St. John of the Cross, confessor, companion of St. Theresa in reforming the Carmelites. His feast is kept on the twenty-fourth of November.

At Milan, St. Matronian, hermit.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

18 DECEMBER – SECOND GREAT ANTIPHON

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the flaming bush, and gaves him the law on Sinai: come and redeem us by thy outstretched arm.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

O Sovereign Lord! O Adonai! come and redeem us, not by your power, but by your humility. Heretofore, you showed yourself to Moses your servant in the midst of a mysterious flame. You gave your law to your people amid thunder and lightning. Now, on the contrary, you come not to terrify, but to save us. Your chaste Mother having heard the Emperor’s edict which obliges her and Joseph her Spouse to repair to Bethlehem, she prepares everything needed for your divine birth. She prepares for you, O Sun of Justice! the humble swathing-bands with which to cover your nakedness, and protect you, the Creator of the world, from the cold of that midnight hour of your Nativity! Thus it is that you will to deliver us from the slavery of our pride and show man that your divine arm is never stronger than when he thinks it powerless and still. Everything is prepared, then, dear Jesus! Your swathing-bands are ready for your infant limbs! Come to Bethlehem and redeem us from the hands of our enemies.

17 DECEMBER – THE GREATER ANTIPHONS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church enters today on the seven days which precede the Vigil of Christmas and which are known in the Liturgy under the name of the Greater Ferias. The ordinary of the Advent Office becomes more solemn. The Antiphons of the Psalms, both for Lauds and the Hours of the day, are proper and allude expressly to the great Coming. Every day at Vespers is sung a solemn Antiphon which consists of a fervent prayer to the Messiah, whom it addresses by one of the titles given Him by the sacred Scriptures.

In the Roman Church, there are seven of these Antiphons, one for each of the Greater Ferias. They are commonly called the O’s of Advent, because they all begin with that interjection. In other Churches during the Middle Ages two more were added to these seven: one to our Blessed Lady, O Virgo Virginum, and the other to the Angel Gabriel, O Gabriel, or to Saint Thomas the Apostle, whose feast comes during the Greater Ferias. It began O Thoma Didyme.There were even Churches where twelve Great Antiphons were sung. That is, besides the nine we have just mentioned, there was O Rex Pacifice to our Lord, O Mundi Domino, to our Lady, and O Hierusalem to the city of the people of God.

The canonical Hour of Vespers has been selected as the most appropriate time for this solemn supplication to our Saviour because, as the Church sings in one of her hymns, it was in the Evening of the world (vergente mundi vespere) that the Messiah came among us. These Antiphons are sung at the Magnificat to show us that the Saviour whom we expect is to come to us by Mary. They are sung twice. Once before and once after the Canticle, as on Double Feasts, and this to show their great solemnity. In some Churches it was formerly the practice to sing them thrice. That is, before the Canticle, before the Gloria Patri, and after the Sicut erat. Lastly, these admirable Antiphons, which contain the whole pith of the Advent Liturgy, are accompanied by a chant replete with melodious gravity, and by ceremonies of great expressiveness, though, in these latter, there is no uniform practice followed. Let us enter into the spirit of the Church. Let us reflect on the great day which is coming that thus we may take our share in these the last and most earnest solicitations of the Church imploring her Spouse to come, and to which He at length yields.

FIRST ANTIPHON

O Wisdom, that proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end, disposing all things with strength and sweetness! Come and teach us the way of prudence.

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O Uncreated Wisdom! that is so soon to make yourself visible to your creatures, truly you dispose all things. It is by your permission that the Emperor Augustus issues a decree ordering the enrolment of the whole world. Each citizen of the vast Empire is to have his name enrolled in the city of his birth. This prince has no other object in this order which sets the world in motion, but his own ambition. Men go to and fro by millions, and an unbroken procession traverses the immense Roman world. Men think they are doing the bidding of man, and it is God whom they are obeying. This world-wide agitation has really but one object. It is to bring to Bethlehem a man and woman who live at Nazareth in Galilee in order that this woman, who is unknown to the world but dear to Heaven, and is at the close of the ninth month since she conceived her child, may give birth to this child in Bethlehem, for the Prophet has said of him: “His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. And you, O Bethlehem! are not the least among the thousand cities of Judah, for out of you He will come” (Micheas v. 2; Matthew ii. 6). O divine Wisdom! how strong are you in thus reaching your ends by means which are infallible though hidden! And yet, how sweet, offering no constraint to man’s free will! and withal, how fatherly in providing for our necessities! You choose Bethlehem for your birth place because Bethlehem signifies the House of Bread. In this you teach us that you are our Bread, the nourishment and support of our life. With God as our food, we cannot die. O Wisdom of the Father, Living Bread that has descended from Heaven, come speedily into us, that thus we may approach to you and be enlightened by your light (Psalm xxxiii. 6), and by that prudence which leads to salvation.

17 DECEMBER – TUESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

Lesson at Matins – Isaias xxx. 18‒28

The Lord waits that He may have mercy on you, and therefore will He be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgement, blessed are all they that wait for Him. For the people of Sion will dwell in Jerusalem: weeping you will not weep: He will surely have pity on you: at the voice of your cry, as soon as He will hear, He will answer you. And the Lord will give you spare bread and short water: and will not cause your teacher to flee away from your any more, and your eyes will see your teacher. And rain will be given to your seed, wherever you will sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land will be most plentiful and fat. The lamb in that day will feed at large in your possession, and your oxen, and the ass-colts, that till the ground, will eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor. And there will be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill, rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the towers will fall. And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord will bind up the wound of his people, and will heal the stroke of their wound. Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar, His wrath burns and is heavy to bear: His lips are filled with indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations to nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

And are we then to weep no more, O Jesus? Happy we! How could we be sad now that you have heard our prayers and our eyes will behold you, our Master and our Teacher? If you yet delay some days longer, it is only that we may have more time to receive what you have made it your glory to give — the mercy and the pardon of our sins. O the happiness of your kingdom! O the richness of our lands, that is, of our souls, when your dew will have fallen on them! O the sweetness of our Bread, which is to be yourself, O Living Bread come down from Heaven! The brightness of the light which you will give us, even on the very day when you will have bound up our wounds! Blessed day, come quickly! And you, dear night, when Mary is to give her divine babe to us, when will you come? So great is our hope in this your merciful Coming that we listen with less dread to the awful words of your Prophet who, with a rapidity swift as your own word, passes over the long ages between the two events, and speaks to us of the approach of the terrible day when you will come suddenly in your burning wrath, with your lips filled with indignation, and your tongue as a devouring fire. Our present feeling is hope, for we are looking forward to that Coming in which you are the beautiful Prince of peace and love, and we cannot but hope. When that last day comes, have mercy on us! But on this day of your amiable visit, permit us to say to you the words of one of your servants: “Yes, dear Jesus, come, come to us! But in swathing-bands, not with your hand raised to punish us: in humility, not in your greatness: in the crib, not in the clouds of Heaven: in the arms of your Mother, not on the Throne of your Majesty: on the colt of the ass, not on the Cherubim to us, and not against us: to save, and not to judge: to visit us in your peace, not to condemn us in your anger. If you come to us thus, O Jesus! it is not from you, but to you, that we will flee” (The Venerable Peter of Celles, First Sermon of Advent).

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Eleutheropolis in Palestine, the holy martyrs Florian, Calanicus and their fifty-eight companions, who were massacred by the Saracens for the faith of Christ in the time of the emperor Heraclius.

At Marseilles in France, blessed Lazarus, bishop, who was raised from the dead by Our Lord, as we read in the Gospel.

At Rome, St. John de Matha, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives. His festival is observed on the eighth of February according to the decree of Pope Innocent XI.

In the monastery of Fulda, the holy abbot Sturmius (779 AD), abbot and apostle of Saxony, who was ranked among the saints by Pope Innocent II in the second Lateran Council.

At Bigarden near Brussels, St. Vivina (1176 AD), virgin, whose eminent sanctity is attested by frequent miracles.

At Constantinople, St. Olympiades (368‒410 AD), widow.

At Andenne, at the Seven Churches, St. Begga, widow, sister of St. Gertrude.

The same day, the translation of St. Ignatius, bishop and martyr, who, the third after the blessed Apostle St. Peter, governed the Church of Antioch. His body was conveyed from Rome, where he had suffered under Trajan, to Antioch, and deposited in the church cemetery beyond the gate of Daphnis. St. John Chrysostom, on that solemn occasion, delivered a discourse to his people. But afterwards his relics were carried back to Rome, and placed with the highest reverence in the church of St. Clement, together with the body of that blessed pope and martyr.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

16 DECEMBER – SAINT EUSEBIUS OF VERCELLI (Bishop and Martyr)

Eusebius, a Sardinian, was a Lector in the Church at Rome, and afterwards Bishop of Vercelli. It may well be said that it was God Himself who chose him to be the pastor of this Church, for the Electors who had never before seen him, no sooner set their eyes on him than they preferred him before all their fellow-citizens. And this instantly, and as soon as they first saw him. Eusebius was the first of the Bishops in the Western Church who established Monks in his Church to exercise the functions of the Clergy. He did it in order that he might thus unite, in the same persons, the detachment from riches and the dignity of Levites.

It was during this time that the impious doctrines of the Arians were devastating the whole of the West, and so vigorously did Eusebius attack them that Pope Liberius’ greatest consolation was the unflinching faith of this holy man. It was on this account that the same Pope, knowing that the Spirit of God burned in Eusebius’ soul, commissioned him to go, accompanied by his Legates, to the Emperor, and plead the cause of the true Faith. Eusebius and the Legates having come before Constantius, the Saint pleaded so powerfully that the Emperor granted that a council of the Bishops should be convened. That Council was held the following year at Milan. Eusebius was invited by Constantius to be present at it, which was what the Legates of Liberius had desired and begged.

So far was he from being duped by the synagogue of the malicious Arians to side with them against Saint Athanasius that he openly declared from the first that several of those present were known to him to be heretics, and he therefore proposed that they should subscribe to the Nicene Creed before proceeding any further. This the Arians, infuriated with anger, refused to do. He then not only refused to subscribe to what was drawn up against Athanasius, but he also, by a most ingenious device, succeeded in having the name of Saint Denis the Martyr blotted out from the decree, which the craft of the Arians had induced him to sign. Wherefore, they being exceeding angry against Eusebius, loaded him with injuries and had him sent into banishment.

The holy man, on his side, shaking off the dust from his feet, caring little either for the threats of the Emperor or the sword which was held over him, submitted to banishment as to something which belonged to his episcopal office. Being sent to Scythopolis, he there endured hunger, thirst, blows, and sundry other punishments. He generously despised his life for the true faith, feared not death and gave up his body to the executioners. How much he had to put up with from the cruelty and insolence of the Arians, we learn from the admirable letters full of energy, piety and religion which he addressed from Scythopolis to the clergy and people of Vercelli, and to other persons of the neighbouring country. It is evident from these letters that the heretics were unable, either by their threats or by their inhuman treatment, to shake his constancy or induce him by the craft of their flattery or arguments to join their party.

From there he was taken into Cappadocia and lastly into Thebais of Upper Egypt, in punishment of his refusing to yield. Thus did he suffer the hardships of exile until the death of Constantius, after which he was allowed to return to his flock. But this he would not do until he had assisted at the Council which was being held at Alexandria for the purpose of repairing the injuries done by heresy. This done, he travelled through the provinces of the East, endeavouring, like a clever physician, to restore to perfect health such as were weak in the faith by instructing them in the doctrine of the Church. Animated by the like zeal for the salvation of souls, he passed over into Illyricum, and having at length returned to Italy, that country put off its mourning. He there published the commentaries of Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea on the Psalms which he translated from the Greek into Latin with such corrections as were needed.

At length, having rendered himself celebrated by a life spent in such actions as these, he died at Vercelli in the reign of Valentinian and Valens, and went to receive the immortal crown of glory which his so many and great sufferings had merited for him.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

When asked to tell the names of the Saints who were foremost in defending the dogma of the Incarnation, we think at once of the intrepid Eusebius of Vercelli as one of the glorious number. The Catholic faith, which was so violently attacked in the fourth century by the Arian heresy, was maintained at that time by the labours and zeal of four Sovereign Pontiffs: Sylvester, who confirmed the decrees of the Council of Nicaea; Julius, the supporter of Saint Athanasius; Liberius, whose faith failed not and who, when restored to his liberty, confounded the Arians; and, lastly, Damasus, who destroyed the last hopes of the heretics. One of these four Pontiffs appears on our Advent Calendar — Damasus, whose feast we kept but a few days since. The four Popes have for their fellow-combatants in this battle for the Divinity of the Incarnate Word four great Bishops of whom it may be said, that the defence of the dogma of the Consubstantiality of the Son of God was what they lived for, and that to say anathema to them was to say anathema to Christ Himself. All four most powerful in word and work, lights of the Churches of the world, objects of the people’s love and the dauntless witnesses of Jesus. The first and greatest of the four is the Bishop of the second See of Christendom, Saint Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria. The second is Saint Ambrose of Milan, whose feast we kept on the seventh of this month. The third is the glory of Gaul, Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers. The fourth is the ornament of Italy, Saint Eusebius, Bishop ofVercelli, whom we have to honour today. Hilary will come to us during Christmastide and will stand at the Crib of the Word whose Divinity he so bravely confesses. Athanasius will meet us at Easter and help us to celebrate in the triumphant Resurrection, Him whom he proclaimed as God in those dark times when human wisdom hoped to destroy, by a fifty years of peace, that Church which had survived the storm of three centuries of persecution. Saint Eusebius’ place is Advent, and divine Providence has thus chosen him as one of the patrons of the faithful during this mystic season. His powerful prayers will help us to come devoutly to Bethlehem, and see in the child that is lying there the eternal Word of God. So great were the sufferings which Saint Eusebius had to undergo for the Divinity of Jesus, that the Church awards him the honours of a Martyr, although he did not actually shed his blood.

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Valiant Soldier of Jesus, Eusebius, Martyr and Pontiff, how much labour and suffering you underwent for the Messiah! And yet they seemed to you to be little in comparison with what is due to this eternal Word of the Father who, out of His pure love, has made Himself the Servant of His own creatures by becoming Man for them in the mystery of the Incarnation. We owe the same debt of gratitude to this divine Saviour. He is born in a stable for our sakes, as He was for yours. Pray, therefore, for us that we may be ever faithful to Him both in war and peace, and that we may resist our temptations and evil inclinations with that same firmness with which we would confess His name before tyrants and persecutors. Obtain for the Bishops of our holy Mother the Church such vigilance that no false doctrines may surprise them, and such courage that no persecution may make them yield. May they be faithful imitators of the divine Pastor who gives His life for His sheep, and may they ever feed the flock entrusted to them in the unity and charity of Jesus Christ.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The young men, Ananias, Azarias and Misael, whose bodies were buried in a cavern at Babylon.

At Ravenna, the holy martyrs Valentine, military officer, Concordius, his son, Navalis, and Agricola, who suffered for Christ in the persecution of Maximian.

At Mola-di-Gaeta in Campania, St. Albina, virgin and martyr, under the emperor Decius (250 AD).

In Africa, many holy virgins, who reached a happy termination of their martyrdom in the persecution of the Vandals under the Arian king Hunneric, by having heavy weights tied to them and burning plates of metal applied to their bodies (482 AD).

At Vienne, blessed Ado, bishop and confessor (875 AD).

At Aberdeen in Scotland, St. Beanus, bishop (111 AD).

At Gaza in Palestine, St. Irenian, bishop (389 AD).

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.