The great Feast of the Nativity

 On the great Feast of the Nativity, we are republishing a post from our sister site: The Life of Christ.

A blessed, holy and happy Christmas to my family and friends and to our readers past and present.

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St Luke Chapter II : Verses 6-7

Contents

• Luke ii. 6-7.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
• Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes

Luke ii. 6-7.

She brought forth her firstborn son.
 J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

6 And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered.

Factum est autem, cum essent ibi, impleti sunt dies ut pareret.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Et peperit filium suum primogenitum, et pannis eum involvit, et reclinavit eum in præsepio : quia non erat eis locus in diversorio.

Annotations

The adoration of the shepherds.
 J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

    6. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. Here the prophecy of Micah, v. 2, that Christ should be born in Bethlehem, was fulfilled.

    her days were accomplished. She brought forth, not under the influence of the fatigue of the journey, but naturally.

    Observe that Christ was born a little after the winter solstice, when the days begin to increase, John the Baptist a little after the summer solstice, when the days begin to decrease. For, as John himself said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” So S. Augustine remarks.

    7. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. She brought Him forth naturally like other mothers, and was, therefore, truly and naturally the mother of Christ, and therefore of God, for Christ is God. Moreover the Blessed Virgin was more the parent of Christ than other mothers are of their children; for from her Christ received all His substance, and other sons receive it not only from their mother and but also from their father. Hence the love between Christ His mother was far greater than that between other mothers and their offspring, for the love which is divided between mother and father was, in the case of the Virgin, united and kept together, since she was to Him in place of both mother and father. Secondly, as she conceived so she brought forth, remaining a virgin, so that Christ was born while the womb of his mother was closed, and penetrated as the rays of the sun penetrate glass.

    Thirdly, the Blessed Virgin, as she conceived without concupiscence, so also brought forth without pain, or any of the concomitants of ordinary childbirth. So say the Fathers everywhere.

    So the Blessed Virgin was all vigorous and in good health, absorbed in the love and contemplation of her Son, each moment expecting His birth, and longing to see and embrace Him.

    And she herself on a certain anniversary of the Nativity made a revelation to S. Bridget, as the latter tells us in book vi. ch. 88 of her Revelations, saying, 

“When He was born of me He went forth from my closed virgin womb with unspeakable joy and exultation.… I brought Him forth as thou hast now seen me, kneeling alone in prayer in the stable. For, with such exultation and gladness of soul did I bear Him that I felt no trouble nor any pain; but straightway I wrapped Him in the clean clothing which I had prepared long before. And when Joseph saw these things, he marvelled with great joy and gladness that I had brought forth without assistance.” And in the “Angelic Discourse,” ch. xv.—“God Himself bent low His majesty, and, descending into the womb of the Virgin … formed in purest fashion from the flesh and blood of the Virgin alone His Human Body. And therefore is that most chosen Mother fitly likened to the burning bush which Moses saw, that took no hurt.… Moreover as, when the Son of God was conceived, He entered throughout the whole body of the Virgin with His Divinity, so, when he was born with His Humanity and His Godhead, He was poured forth throughout her body, like all its sweetness shed whole from the bosom of the rose, the glory of maidenhood remaining entire in His Mother.”

    There is a question as to what place was the first to receive Christ at His birth. Barradius thinks it was the ground, that Christ might teach us humility. Others think that Christ was received into the arms of His Mother, with exceeding joy,—for this would seem to be becoming for such a mother and such a son, and would be natural, and is gathered from what Luke immediately adds, “and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes.” Taking Him in her hands she adored Him, kneeling, and then kissed Him most sweetly, and wrapped Him in the clothes and bands. 

    Suarez thinks that Christ, as soon as He was born, was laid by angels in the arms of His most holy and loving Mother; S. Gregory of Nyssa implies the same. This would be the place most becoming to Him, and most consonant to the wishes both of Son and Mother; and from thence she placed Him in the manger.

    S. Bridget, Revel bk. viii. ch. 47, implies that, at His birth, Christ came of His own accord into the hands of His sweet Virgin Mother, and this may be piously believed with great probability.

    Ribadaneira says that there is a tradition to the effect that the Blessed Virgin, as soon as she saw Christ, struck with wonder at God made Man, prostrated herself on the ground before Him, and, with the deepest reverence and joy of heart, saluted Him with the words, Thou art come to one who has longed for Thee, my God! my Lord! my Son!—not doubting that she was understood by Him, infant as He was; and that thus she adored Him, kissing his feet as God, His hands as her Lord, and His face as her Son.

    Christ, says S. Bernard, sermon 4, “On the Nativity,” when born cried and shed tears like other infants; both that He might begin to weep for and wash away our sins and also that He might conform himself to other infants; as Solomon, who was a type of Christ, says, “And when I was born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.… For there is no king that had any other beginning of birth.” Wisdom vii. 3–5.

    All the angels accompanied Christ, their God and Lord, to earth, as all royal households accompany a king when he goes abroad. They were amazed at God the immeasurable as it were straitened into a span’s breadth, they venerated Him and adored Him. Such is the meaning of the Apostle where he says, “And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him.” Heb. i. 6.

    And so it came to pass that this stable was, as it were, turned into the highest heaven,—full of angels, yea, of cherubim and seraphim, who all, leaving heaven, came down to adore their God made Man. Such was the work of the Incarnation and Nativity of the Word,—hitherto inconceivable, and, as it were, incredible to the angels, as being the supreme and appropriate work of the Divine Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Clemency—surpassing every understanding of men and of angels.

    The reasons why Christ would be made Man and born on earth were many. First, that suffering and dying in the flesh He might redeem us from our sins and from hell. That He might teach us by example rather than word the way of salvation, and give us a perfect specimen of sanctity and of all virtues, but especially of the most profound humility. “Dig within thyself,” says S. Augustine, “the foundation of humility, and so shalt thou arrive at the summit of charity.”

    Another reason was that Christ wished to become our kinsman and brother, nay, our very flesh and blood, in order that He might deal as flesh with flesh, as man with man, as equal with equal. Hence S. Bernard (Serm. 3, super Missus Est) says, “He has been sent;—let us strive to be made like as this little one; let us learn of Him, for He is meek and humble of heart, lest the Great God be made Man to no purpose.”

    A third reason is, that Christ took upon Him the meanness, the lowliness, the ills of our flesh, not for Himself but for us, to prick the icy hearts of men with the effectual stimulus of love and stir them up,—nay, force them, to love Him in return. For Christ, in His Incarnation, is ever calling aloud to us; I have given Myself all to thee, do thou in turn give thyself whole to Me. For this did I take flesh upon Me, that thou mightest say with Paul, I live now not I, but Christ lives in me. Listen to S. Ambrose,

“He therefore was a little infant that thou mightest be a perfect man—He swathed in bands that thou mightest be freed from the snares of death—He in a crib that thou mightest be on the altars—He on earth that thou mightest be in heaven—He had not room in the inn, that thou mightest have more abiding places among the inhabitants of heaven.… His poverty, therefore, is my heritage, and the weakness of my Lord is my strength.”

    A fourth reason is that we could not conceive the idea of God, who is a pure and uncreated spirit, so God clothed Himself in our flesh that we might see Him with our eyes and hear Him with our ears. It is this that the Church sings in the Preface of the Mass of the Nativity;—

“Because by the Mystery of the Incarnate Word a new effulgence of Thy glory has shone upon the eyes of our soul, that coming to know God visibly we may by Him be rapt into yearning after things that are not seen.”

    firstborn—and only born. The firstborn is he who is born first, though no other be begotten after him; for such an one enjoys the rights and privileges of primogeniture.

    and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes—poor and cheap, but clean and decent. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the book, “On the Chief Works of Christ,” in serm. 1, says, “In place of purple some rags are got together, instead of the regal equipage a few fragments; the Mother is also the nurse and pays devoted attention to her beloved Offspring.” The Ethiopian version, instead of “wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,” has “bound His thumbs,” as though this were the sign by which the Infant was recognised by the shepherds. This is connected with the Ethiopian tradition that the Queen of Sheba, when she returned to Ethiopia from her visit to Solomon, brought forth a son called Menelich, whom she had conceived by him, and that she sent this son back to Jerusalem, putting on his thumb the ring which Solomon had given her, that by this sign he might be known by his father.

    and laid Him in a manger. Passing over the various opinions on the subject recorded by Baronius and others, we may note that the place of Christ’s birth was not the stable belonging to some rustic dwelling, but a cave hewn out of a rock at the eastern end of the city of Bethlehem. This is on the authority of S. Jerome, “Ep. 18 ad Marcellam,” Bede, “de Locis Sanctis” ch. 8, and others. Whether the cave were within or without the city of Bethlehem authorities are not agreed. Bede says that a miraculous perennial spring took its rise in the rock of the cave, and was still flowing in his time; he also records that the whole cave was cased in marble by the Christians, and adorned with a magnificent church built above it. That there was in this cave a wooden manger, well known to all the shepherds of that part, is clear from the fact, that the shepherds soon found the spot when the angel indicated it to them by this sign. This manger was taken from thence to Rome, and there placed in the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, where it is religiously visited and venerated.

    Christ was placed in the manger for two reasons; first, because there was no place better fitted to hold Him—the straw in it forming a kind of bed on which the tender babe might repose; and, secondly, that in the rigour of winter, He might be warmed by the breath of the ox and the ass. For the tradition goes that an ox and an ass were tethered to this manger, and such is the common belief of the faithful. Of these two animals the Church interprets the words of Habakkuk iii. 2, “In the midst of two animals shalt Thou be known” (Vulgate), and appropriates also Isaiah i. 3, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib:”—such is the explanation given on these passages by S. Jerome, Nazianzen, Cyril, Paulinus, and others, quoted by Baronius.

    Gregory of Nyssa “On the Nativity” gives a mystical reason as follows:—

“A manger is the dwelling-place of beasts; in such a place is the Word born, that the ox may know his owner, and the ass the resting-place of his Lord. Now, the ox is the Jew under the yoke of the Law; and the ass is an animal fitted for bearing burdens,—the Gentile groaning under the grievous burden of idolatry. Moreover, the ordinary food of beasts is hay.… But the rational animal eats bread, wherefore the Bread of Life which came down from heaven is laid in the crib where the food of beasts is wont to be placed, that even animals void of reason may share the food of reasonable beings.”

    Many mothers of Saints, following the example of Christ, have brought forth their sons in a stable. The mother of S. Francis, being pregnant, and unable to gave birth to her child, advised by a poor pilgrim to betake herself to a stable, did as she was told, and there gave birth to S. Francis, the imitator of Christ’s poverty. So says Ribadaneira in his life. Let all Christians look at and contemplate Christ in the manger, and consider Who and What He is,—what He does, for whom and why He does it. For Christ in the manger, God made Man, the Word become a babe,—is the love and admiration of all the angels and all the faithful, at whom they stand amazed and shall be amazed for all eternity. For who will not be astonished if he look thoughtfully at this Child and ask Him, Who art thou, O Babe of Bethlehem? and hear Him answer; learn of Isaiah,—“Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”Isaiah ix. 6.

    “ As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God hath founded it for ever.   We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple.” Ps. xlvii. 9-10

    Let Solomon, the wisest of kings, teach who this is;—

“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.… When He prepared the heavens I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth … Then I was by him, as one brought up with him.” Prov. viii. 22.

    And let the Sybil of the Gentiles tell us in Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue.

“The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes,

Renewed its finished course, Saturnian times

Roll round again; and mighty years begun

From their first orb, in radiant circles run.

The base degenerate iron offspring ends;

A golden progeny from heaven descends.”

—Dryden’s “Pastoral IV.”

    With reason, then, does S. Augustine exclaim, 

     “O miracles! O prodigies! O mysteries! Brethren, the laws of nature are changed, God is born as a Man, a virgin is pregnant.… God who is and was the Creator becomes a creature, He who is unmeasured is held, He who makes men rich is made poor, the Incorporeal is clothed with flesh, the Invisible is seen.… What was it that so great a God did, lying in so small a covering of flesh in the crib? Let us hear Him as He teaches us from His Manger-Throne,—teaching not by word but by example.” 

     “I, who with three of my fingers poise the earth’s vast mass, I who did create heaven and earth, the King of Glory and Lord of Majesty, beneath whom the columns of heaven tremble, and they that bear the globe are bowed down,—I, for love of thee alone, O man, to deliver thee from thy sin and from the eternal flames of hell, and to bring thee to the happiness of heaven, have come “leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills;” [Solom. ii. 8]—from heaven have I leapt down upon earth, from the bosom of the Father to the Virgin’s womb. Through the bowels of My compassion have I “the Dayspring from on high” visited thee; I have joined in one person the Word with flesh, a spirit with the slime of earth, God with man, and most intimate have I made the union. I have become a little child, thy bone and thy flesh, I am made man to make thee God. Within the manger, the food, as it were of the ox and the ass, I lie among the beasts, because thou wast living like unto the beasts,—wallowing in flesh and blood. Thou hadst become as the horse and the mule that have no understanding. For man when he was in honour did not understand, and was comparable to the senseless brutes and became like unto them. Therefore did I take flesh upon Me, that thou mayest eat My flesh, that joining it to thy flesh thou mayest breathe the breath of Heavenly and Divine Life.”

     I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If, then, thou wouldst not err, follow Me as the way to heaven; hearken unto Me as the Truth; embrace Me as the true Life. Vain is wealth, vain are pleasures, vain the honours of this world, which foolish mortals, like silly children, follow after and covet so greedily. True riches, true pleasures, undying honours are in heaven;—these doth God enjoy, and His angels and His saints;—aspire after these. Am I, Christ, the King of kings, born poor and needy, and dost thou, O Christian, seek after comforts and riches? Have I, the uncreated and illimitable Wisdom, chosen for Myself the pains of flesh and of spirit, and wilt thou indulge in the delights both of the one and of the other? I, whom the heavens cannot contain, am shut up in a tiny body and in this paltry manger, and art thou, Christian, ashamed to be despised as a little one and lowly? Not in Herod’s palace would I be born, not in the palace of Augustus, but in a cavern, in a manger; I chose to dwell in humble cottages, and preferred the sheepfold before the royal court, but thou dost follow after courts and the things of courts. Sons of men, why delight ye in vanity, and why seek ye after a lie?

    “The stable cries aloud”—says S. Bernard, sermon 5, “On the Nativity”—“the manger cries aloud, His tears and His clothes. The stable cries out that it is ready to be the shelter and hospital of man who has fallen among thieves; the manger, that food is ready for man that is become like to the beasts; His tears and His clothes that with them man’s bleeding wounds are now washed and wiped dry.”

    because there was no room for them in the inn—namely, for Mary and Joseph. The reading “for Him,” adopted by some, is, therefore, incorrect. Barradius, who is among these, gives as a reason why the Blessed Virgin brought forth in the cave, and why Christ was laid to rest in a manger and not in a bed, that all the places in the inn had already been taken by the crowd of richer people who were flocking thither for the census. It is very likely that in a small town like Bethlehem there was only one inn; as S. Luke here implies. But this came to pass by the supreme foreknowledge and providence of Christ, that he might give us an example of the greatest humility and poverty. Hiding Himself away, however, He was made manifest and glorified by God, through the star that summoned the wise men, the angels sent to the shepherds, the overturning of idols, and other miracles which Orosius, bk. vi. ch. 20, and Baronius in his annals, vol. 1, recount.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text 

6. And it came to paſſe,when they were there, her daies were fully come that ſhe ſhould be deliuered.

7. And ſhe brought forth firſt begotten Sonne, and ſwadled him in clothes, and laid him downe in a manger; becauſe there was not place for them in the inne. 

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

In Conceptione Immaculata Beatæ Mariæ Virginis

 

Our Lady of Lourdes.
Crowned by Pius IX in 1879

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." 

Pope Pius IX issued the Papal Bull “Ineffabilis Deus” in 1854.

With fervent prayers to our gentle Queen and Mother for the author and his family on this day which is also the anniversary of a great blessing received in Corpus Christi Church (Covent Garden) in 1981. With prayers too for the repose of the soul of the officiating priest, Fr. Henry Dodd (1921-1992) R.I.P.

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a sæculo, quemquam ad tua currentem præsidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen.

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

In memoriam matris meæ dilectissimæ

On 30 November 1977, on the feast of St Andrew, patron saint of her native Scotland, my dear mother passed away after a long battle with cancer. The local priest had administered the last rites some time previously. Although she had seemed barely conscious, I could see her lips moving slightly after he had invited her to join him in saying one ''Hail Mary'' . She received Holy Communion and she seemed then to be very much at peace. The priest, a serious, taciturn but tender-hearted man, noted that this was often the case.

✠ Requiescas in pace, mater dilectissima! ✠

Three poems

I was living in Cambridge during this sad time in 1977. For no particular reason that I can recall, I felt prompted to make the train journey across country to pay a visit to my mother in north Warwickshire. I prepared the following poem en route, not knowing that my mother would depart this world only a matter of days after my arrival. She was sitting near the fireside when I arrived, nursing a hot water bottle. I read my poem to her and I could see that she was listening intently. When I had finished, she said: 'Well, how lovely!' She then retired to her bedroom and never left her bed again before her death some days later.

Kirsty bheag is the Scots Gaelic for 'little Kirsty'. She was called 'little' to distinguish her from her mother, who was also called Kirsty. I completed the pen and ink drawing of the boat (21cm x 21cm) several years later and named it 'Kirsty' in honour of my mother. RIP.

Kirsty Bheag

Kirsty. PB

Alone sate she in soft and muted shade,
A fairy child of woodland ferns and flowers,
A slender sylph from Spring's most sacred glade,
A smiling sprite of silent, scented bowers.

Her careless hair was gold as sun-gold corn,
In breeze-blessed streams and tresses lightly flowing;
Her eyes were the smiling blue of a sky-blue morn,
Her cheeks with cheerest roses ever-glowing.

Withal a shape so supple, slim and svelte
As like a willow-sapling's lithely grace;
A light and happy spirit therein dwelt,
Whose dancing smiles did play upon her face.

Upon her lap an open book she lay,
Whose lines she scanned with fond and eager gaze;
Then 'loud the alien words she 'gan to say,
In heart to grave for all her mortal days.

Alone sate she, this darling Highland child,
In woods, in fields, by many a mountain stream;
But now in time long-lived to old age mild,
Of these her girlhood joys she doth but dream.

Envoi

Learn friends, this fairest She, she is no other
Than my own dear, beloved mother.
 © PB 1977


My mother was to suffer enormously from cancer before she died on the 30th November. As someone born in the Scottish Highlands, it was altogether fitting that she should have passed on the Feast of St Andrew. I wrote 'Curse' mindful of the echoing metre used by the witches in the "Scottish play."

Curse

Burn in Brimni's blazing bane,
Die in cruel and crazing pane!

Slowly burning, slowly maiming,
Never easing, never resting,
Bitter raw with deadly fest'ring;
Vicious jaws within thee gnawing,
Biting, ripping, tearing, savage,
These thy entrails hotly ravage.

Burn in Brimni's blazing bane,
Die in cruel and crazing pain!
© PB 1977



In this same year, my mother had already lost her first-born son (aged 44) as well as a favourite brother. This triple loss inspired the following lines.

This Weeping Year

This weeping year,
This year of ache and pain;
This heart-sore year,
This year with sorrow stain'd.

O woeful year,
Unweary of thy ever-wearing woes;
Black-visaged year,
Unyielding midst thy yield of deadly throes.

The Fates, they three,
This fated year of three,
Death-fated three
And dealt three fatally.

© PB 1977

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Ad Jesum per te, Maria!

The Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Today is the anniversary of my Baptism, which took place when I was three weeks old, on Friday the 27th of November 1953, the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, in the church of St Theresa of the Child Jesus (Perry Bar, Birmingham). I discovered this very late in life and, Deo volente, I shall never cease to thank Our Lord for everything He did to make this possible on His Mother's feast day and in a church dedicated to Ste Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus. 

Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata!

The Traditional Rite of Baptism

See here for a PDF showing the powerful words and actions that the Church included in the traditional rite of Baptism before the tragic excisions and alterations that followed in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

A small gift to the Holy Mother of God

The Holy Mother of God.
FaceMePLS from The Hague. CC BY 2.0.

Whilst listening to a "Song to the Moon" from Antonin Dvorak's lyric fairy tale Russalka (1901), I was overwhelmed by the the haunting melody, the Czech lyrics and the beautiful voice of Patricia Janečková. The emotion grew when reflecting on this singer's heart-breaking death from cancer at the tragically young age of 25 (on the 1st of October this year).

👈    The image shown is venerated in the Chapel of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Lithuania. Some sources trace this painting to the 14th century (or earlier) in Crimea. Although there is no agreement on the date, both the Orthodox and the Catholics lay claim to this image, proof of the deep and ancient tradition of veneration and love for the Holy Mother of God found in both wings of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Let us pray that our holy Mother will intercede for all her faithful sons so that, from East to West, they may be united as they once were.

    The painting features prominently a crescent moon, which is quite common in images of the Blessed Virgin, recalling the words of St John in Chapter xii of the Apocalypse:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet... [Apoc. xii. 1]

and echoing the words from the Canticle of Canticles:

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair [pulchra] as the moon ... terrible as an army set in array? [Canticles (Solomon) vi. 9].

    The word "woman" used by St John in the Apocalypse recalls the word used by Christ on the Cross, entrusting the beloved disciple to His Holy Mother:

When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son... Behold thy mother.   [John xix. 26-27]

    I felt moved to conceive a paraphrase, slightly adapting the original lyrics and re-interpreting or super-interpreting them in the form of a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, praying for her help in drawing closer to her Divine Son. This prayer is reproduced below under the title Ad Jesum per te, Maria! ("To Jesus through thee, O Mary"). These words form part of the motto that I have used in recent years as a personal seal to close posts and written work (see close of post).  Scriptural references have been included in the Footnotes after the prayer, together with the original Czech lyrics for those who wish to follow the sung performance.

 

Patricia Janečková.1998-2023. 

👈 Here is a picture of the soprano, taken from her recording of Mozart's Laudate Dominum.

✠ REQUIEM æternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. ✠

ETERNAL rest grant unto her , O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her . May she rest in peace. Amen.

Here is a link to an audio-file of her performance:

👉  Song to the Moon

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Below is the poem-prayer which I wrote and which I offer as a gift to our gentle Queen and Mother on this her feast day, the anniversary of my baptism. There is, providentially, a full moon this evening!

Ad Jesum per te, Maria!

To Jesus through thee, O Mary!

Hail O beautiful moon,[1] our Mother in the highest heaven,

Whose gentle gaze sees far and wide;

The light of thy maternal love streams down

Upon thy children here below.

O radiant moon, our Queen, please pause awhile

And tell me, O tell me where He is who hath so loved me; [2]

Help me to tell Him, O Heavenly Mother,

To tell Him my heart yearns for us to draw close;

How I pray that for a little while

I may be present to His thoughts;

With the light of Grace, I ask thee to show me His distant dwelling, [3]

Tell Him, O tell Him that someone is seeking Him...

And knocking for His attention; [4]

May this little plea prompt a recollection;

Beautiful moon, our gentle Queen and Mother, don't leave me, don't leave me...

Don't leave me!

[1] Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?  [Canticles (Solomon) vi. 9].

And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet... [Apoc. xii. 1] 

[2] For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; [John iii. 16]

Father ... I have made known thy name to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.

[John xvii. 25-26]

[3] Who only hath immortality, and inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and empire everlasting. Amen. [1 Tim. vi. 16]

[4]  Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.

For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. [Matt. vii. 7-8]

Song to the Moon : Czech lyrics

Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém,

světlo tvé daleko vidí,

po světě bloudíš širokém,

díváš se v příbytky lidí.

Měsíčku, postůj chvíli,

řekni mi, řekni, kde je můj milý!

Řekni mu, stříbrný měsíčku,

mé že jej objímá rámě,

aby si alespoň chviličku

vzpomenul ve snění na mě.

Zasvit' mu do daleka, zasviť mu,

řekni mu, řekni, kdo tu naň čeká!

O mně-li duše lidská sní,

af se tou vzpomínkou vzbudí!

Měsíčku, nezhasni, nezhasni!

Měsíčku, nezhasni!

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

In Commemoratione Omnium Fidelium Defunctorum : All Souls Day 2023

The Dies Iræ was sung at St Bede's today during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the souls of all the faithful departed. As part of our prayers for all deceased family members, friends and benefactors, we are re-publishing a study which first appeared in 2022.

To read the study, please click here for the PDF: 👉  Dies Iræ.  

ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

On the Feast of Christ the King

The Holy Infant of Prague 
Fotobanka ČTK, René Fluger; CC BY-SA 3.0

Today, on the great feast of Christ the King, we launch the first of a new series of posts on the life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Luke. You can read this Life (and others in the series) by clicking here: 👉 The Life of Christ Our Lord.

The Life includes the Douay-Rheims [1] and Vulgate texts of the Gospel, followed by annotations which make extensive use of the commentary by Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (1567-1637). The illustrations are by Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), except where otherwise stated.

[1] With revisions by Bishop Richard Challoner, 1749-52. Taken from a hardcopy of the 1899 Edition by the John Murphy Company. See here for DRBO site.

The Holy Infant of Prague

👈 This is the original statue of the Holy Infant, Lord Jesus Christ our King.   It was given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz to the Discalced Carmelites in 1628 and is now located in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories in Prague. The author is blessed to have a statue of the Holy Infant received as a gift from the late Fr Dodd, parish priest of Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane (Covent Garden).

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The Icon of Vladimir. ?12th century.
  Church of St. Nicholas, Moscow.

I offer our work on St Luke's Gospel as a gift to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord Jesus Christ our King who hast said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened,"[1] through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex noster, qui dixisti: Petite, et dabitur vobis; quærite, et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis,[1] per intercessionem Mariæ Sanctissimæ Matris Tuæ, pulso, quæro et peto ut deprecationes meas exaudias.

[1] [Luc. xi. 19]

The Icon of Vladimir

This ancient Icon of the Mother of God is said to be based on one painted by the Evangelist St Luke himself on a board taken from the table used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. In 1131, the icon was sent from Constantinople to Rus and was installed in the Devichi monastery in Vyshgorod. In 1155, it was brought to the city of Vladimir and was installed in the Dormition cathedral. It was from this time that the icon received its name of the Vladimir Icon. The icon was first brought to Moscow in 1395 where it is now housed in the Church of St. Nicholas.

Let us pray that our Blessed Mother will gather together her faithful sons from the East and the West so as to be reunited as once they were in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;

 despise not our petitions in our necessities,

 but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

 

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix.

 Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus,

sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper,

 Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Life of Christ : St Matthew

Three Archangels with Tobias. c.1471 Uffizi, Florence. 

Today, the feast of St Raphael, sees the last posting on the Life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Matthew on The Life of Christ website. I established the Life of Christ site in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted as a seal in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

It also reflects the emphasis found in the opening lines of The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis:

     He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, saith Our Lord. (John viii.12). These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, that we must imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let it then be our chief study to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. [From The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis (c. 1418–1427); translated by Bishop Richard Challoner (1755)]

     Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris dicit Dominus. Hæc sunt verba Christi, quibus admonemur quatenus vitam eius et mores imitemur, si volumus veraciter illuminari, et ab omni cæcitate cordis liberari. Summum igitur studium nostrum, sit in vita Jesu meditari.

     Celui qui me suit, ne marche point dans les ténèbres, dit le Seigneur. Ce sont les paroles de Jésus-Christ, par lesquelles il nous exhorte à imiter sa conduite et sa vie, si nous voulons être vraiment éclairés et délivrés de tout aveuglement du cœur. Que notre principale étude soit donc de méditer la vie de Jésus-Christ. [L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, traduction avec des réflections par M l'Abbé F De Lamenais (1859)]

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Here is a summary of the projects completed to date:

1. The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J. Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
2. The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
3. The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.
4. The fourth project featured the Acts of the Apostles and also made use of Madame Cecilia's work published in 1907 entitled The Acts of the Apostles. The series began on the 29th June 2022 and concluded on the 11th of September in the same year.
5. The most recent project featured the Gospel of St Matthew.  Making use of Madame Cecilia's commentaries published in 1906, it began on the 29th of June 2023, the feast of St Peter and St Paul, and concluded today, the 24th of October, on the feast of St Raphael.

I offer this work to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son's most Sacred Heart so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord, graciously send Your holy Archangel Raphael to help us, that he who we know stands ever in the presence of Your Majesty, may present our humble prayers for Your blessing.

Dirigere dignáre, Dómine Deus, in adiutórium nostrum sanctum Raphaélem Archángelum: et, quem tuæ maiestáti semper assístere crédimus, tibi nostras exíguas preces benedicéndas assígnet.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

St Francis of Assisi

Today is the Feast of saint, Francis of Assisi, whose name I chose for my Confirmation[1]. This post begins with a painting by Rubens: The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger. It seems fitting to include this not only because the month of October is dedicated to Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, but also because of the dark and troubling times in which we live.

Rubens shows Our Lord ready to punish the earth with the thunderbolts of His justice on account of the widespread evil present almost everywhere. The Prince of this world is coiled like a serpent around the globe. Our Lady seeks to restrain her Son; she exposes her virginal breast as if to recall the tender babyhood of her Son, imploring mercy for us all. St Francis too, shielding the earth, seeks to protect us by praying that Our Lord in His mercy should stay His hand. The rainbow appears over Mary's figure, sign of the Covenant between God and mankind:

"And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth." [Genesis ix.16.]

👈The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger. 1614. Peter Paul Rubens. (Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels).

[1]  Sunday 25th June 1961, in St Benedict's Church, Atherstone, Warwickshire. By Bishop Bright, John Boland being sponsor: R.I.P.

Below is a prayer to Our Lady which is attributed to St Francis : 

Ave Domina

Hail Lady, Holy Queen, Holy Mary Theotokos,

who art the Virgin made church

and the one chosen by the Most Holy Father of Heaven,

whom He consecrated with His Most Holy Beloved Son

and with the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete;

in whom there was and is all fullness of grace and every good.

Hail His Palace; Hail His Tabernacle; Hail His Home.

Hail His Vestment; Hail His Handmaid; Hail His Mother

and hail all you holy virtues,

which through the grace and illumination of the Holy Spirit

are infused into the hearts of the faithful,

so that from those unfaithful you make them faithful to God.

Salutatio Beatæ Mariæ Virginis

Ave Domina, sancta Regina, sancta Dei genitrix Maria,

Quæ es virgo ecclesia facta et electa a sanctissimo Patre de cælo,

quam consecravit cum sanctissimo dilecto Filio suo

et Spiritu sancto Paraclito, in qua fuit et est omnis plenitudo gratiæ et omne bonum.

Ave palatium eius,

Ave tabernaculum eius;

Ave domus eius.

Ave vestimentum eius;

Ave ancilla eius;

Ave mater eius;

et vos omnes sanctæ virtutes,

quæ per gratiam et illuminationem Spiritus Sancti

infundimini in corda fidelium,

ut de infidelibus fideles Deo faciatis.

A meditation by St Francis on the Lord's Prayer

Our Father: Most Holy, our Creator and Redeemer, our Saviour and our Comforter.

Who art in Heaven: in the angels and the saints. Who givest them light so that they may have knowledge, because Thou, Lord, art Light. Who inflames them so that they mayest love, because Thou, Lord, art Love. Who lives continually in them and who fills them so that they may be happy, because Thou, Lord, art the Supreme Good, the Eternal Good, and it is from Thee that all good comes, and without Thee there is no good.

Hallowed be Thy Name: May our knowledge of Thee become ever clearer, so that we may realize the extent of Thy benefits, the steadfastness of Thy promises, the sublimity of Thy Majesty and the depth of Thy judgments.

Thy Kingdom come: so that Thou may reign in us by Thy grace and bring us to Thy Kingdom, where we shall see Thee clearly, love Thee perfectly, be blessed in Thy company and enjoy Thee forever.

Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven: so that we may love Thee with our whole heart by always thinking of Thee; with our whole mind by directing our whole intention towards Thee and seeking Thy glory in everything; and with all our strength by spending all our powers and affections of soul and body in the service of Thy Love alone. And may we love our neighbours as ourselves, encouraging them all to love Thee as best we can, rejoicing as the good fortune of others, just as it were our own, and sympathizing with their misfortunes, while giving offence to no one.

Give us this day our daily bread: Thine own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to remind us of the love He showed for us and to help us understand and appreciate it and everything that he did or said or suffered.

And forgive us our trespasses: in Thine infinite Mercy, and by the power of the Passion of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the merits and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all your saints.

As we forgive those who trespass against us: and if we do not forgive perfectly, Lord, make us forgive perfectly, so that we may indeed love our enemies for love of Thee, and pray fervently to Thee for them, returning no one evil for evil, anxious only to serve everybody in Thee.

And lead us not into temptation: hidden or obvious, sudden or unforeseen. But deliver us from evil: Present, past, or to come.

Amen.

[This translation is based on that of Benen Fahy, OFM, as it appeared in "The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi," Burnes & Oates, London, 1964].

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.