The Bigger View: 01/25/08

Friday, January 25, 2008

Septuagesima

Septuagesima Sunday
Sts. Fabian - Pope & Sebastian - Martyr
J.M.J.

SEASON OF SEPTUAGESIMA
From "The St. Andrew Daily Missal" (1937)

The Septuagesima season always begins with the ninth week before Easter
and includes three Sundays called respectively Septuagesima, Sexagesima and
Quinquagesima. These names which were borrowed from the numeral system of
the time, denote a series of decades working back from the commencement of
Lent, which is known in Latin as Quadragesima.

Easter is a movable feast and can be kept, according to the year in
which it occurs, between March 22 and April 25. When it falls early the
Septuagesima season encroaches on the time after Epiphany, some Sundays of
which are then kept between the twenty-third and the last Sunday after
Pentecost.

This liturgical period is a prelude to Lent and a remote preparation for
Easter. It serves as a time of transition for the soul, which must pass from
Christmas joys to the stern penance of the sacred forty days. Even if the
fast is not yet of obligation, the colour of the vestments worn is already
violet. As during Advent, the recital of the Gloria in excelsis is
suspended, since this hymn which celebrated Christ's birth in our mortal
flesh, is reserved to extol Him when born in His undying body, i.e. when He
rises from the tomb. "Born once of the Virgin, thou art now reborn from the
sepulcre," will then be the cry of the Church. Again the Martyrology
introduces Septuagesima Sunday as that on which "we lay aside the song of
the Lord which is Alleluia." "How, said the people of Israel, "shall we sing
the song of the Lord in a strange land?"

This "strange land" is for the people of Christ, the world, which is a
place of exile, while the Alleluia, the chant St. John heard in heaven, will
begin again in the liturgy at Paschaltide, which represents the future life.
In the Easter festivities we shall hail our Lord, the conqueror of Satan,
who while freeing us from the bondage of sin, will re-open to us the
heavenly kingdom. The season of Lent which lasts for forty days
(Quadragesima) and that of Septuagesima which is made up of the following
periods of ten days (Quinquagesima, Sexagesima and Septuagesima) may well be
taken as representing the seventy years passed by Israel in exile under the
harsh captivity of the Babylonians. The chant of Alleluia is silent during
this period in which the spirit and very name remind us so strongly, that we
are "poor banished children. . . mourning and weeping in this vale of tears"
(Salve Regina).

The Season of Septuagesima ends in the Temporal Cycle on Ash Wednesday.
In the Sanctoral Cycle its extreme limit is March 10, that is, when Easter
falls on April 25.

--
Sincerely in Christ,
Our Lady of the Rosary Library
"Pray and work for souls"
http://olrl.org/

Latin Mass in Iloilo

Breaking News / Regions

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080124-114572/Latin-masses-back-in-Iloilo-after-four-decades

Latin masses back in Iloilo after four decades

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau

Posted date: January 24, 2008

ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Ilonggo Catholic faithful are experiencing Latin Mass here for the first time in decades.

Around 700 parishioners of Mandurriao District here attended the Latin Mass, also known as Tridentine, on Wednesday. The mass was held in time for the Feast of the Espousal of the Virgin Mary at the Mandurriao parish church.

The priests from other parishes also attended the Latin Mass, the first held on Panay Island since the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council ushered in masses in the local vernacular, according to Fr. Espiridion Celis, Mandurriao parish priest.

Cita Lamprea, 81, a member of the Catholic Women's League and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said she previously attended Latin Masses before World War II.

"We understand Latin because we learned and got used to it. Celebrating it in the traditional way is inspiring for us," said Lamprea.

Celis said he hoped that other parishes would also hold Latin Masses based on the directive of the Pope.

Three priests, Msgr. Juanito Ma. Tuvilla (celebrant), Fr. Oscar Andrada (deacon) and Fr. Winifredo Losaria (subdeacon), celebrated the High Mass while Fr. Renato Cuadras served as the master of ceremonies, according to Celis.

The priests spoke in Latin except in delivering the homily, which was in Hiligaynon. Handouts with English and Hiligaynon translation of prayers, responses and hymns were given to the parishioners.

In his homily, Monsignor Tuvilla explained why the Mass was held and the history of the rites of the Catholic Church. Tuvilla said the holding of the Latin Mass did not mean returning to Latin and doing away with Masses in the vernacular.

"Whatever language is used, the elements of the rites of the Catholic Church started 2,000 years ago are still there," said Tuvilla.

The mass, which lasted for more than two hours, was accompanied by hymns from Gregorian plainchant from Gounod's Messe Solennette in honor of St. Cecilia, Mozart's Ave Verum and Franck's Panis Angelicus.

Celis said the holding of the Latin Mass was in response to a directive of Pope Benedict XVI dated July 2007 allowing the wider use of the Tridentine as was the practice before the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council in 1970.

The July 2007 Summorum Pontificum grants greater freedom to use the Tridentine liturgy. It replaces the Ecclesia Dei of 1988, which allowed individual bishops to establish places where mass could be said using the 1962 Roman Missal.

Catholics have expressed concern over Summorum Pontificum, as they viewed it as reversal of progressive changes made during Vatican Council II, especially on bringing the liturgy closer to the faithful with the use of the vernacular.

^ Back to top