Trivia Thread

[Ann M]

And the collect for the Emperor is not used on New Year's Day. I think I also mentioned this one's a trick question.

I give up?

 

[Paul S]

In Easter Week is said:
S. Ite, Missa est, alleluia, alleluia. P. Go, the Mass is ended, alleluia, alleluia.
M. Deo gratias, alleluia, alleluia. S. Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia.

Correct.

The double alleluja is also added to the close of Lauds and Vespers throughout the Easter Octave, and at Vespers on the Saturday before Septuagesima Sunday:

V. Benedicamus Domino, alleluja, alleluja. (Let us bless the Lord)
R. Deo gratias, alleluja, alleluja.

 

[Paul S]

I give up?

Since the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire abdicated in 1806, the commemoration "For the Emperor" is no longer in use. However, it remained in the Missal until the revisions of 1962. My St. Andrews Daily Missal, from 1945, includes it.

 

[Paul S]

Whose feast was dropped this year because of Maundy Thursday, and why is that particular date an appropriate one for this saint?

 

[Ann M]

Hmmmm....

Saints whose Feastday is March 24 include:-



* St. Aldemar
* St. Timolaus & Companions
* St. Seleucus
* St. Caimin
* St. Cairlon
* St. Domangard
* St.Epicharis
* St. Hildelitba
* St. Latinus
* St. Macartan
* St. Romulus and Secundus
* St. Mark & Timothy
* St. Pigmenius

...........

 

[Ann M]

Okay, now please bear with us folks.....

Now this site tells us this -

The Twenty-fourth Day of March

The Feast of St. Gabriel the Archangel, who was sent by God to declare the mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word. A totum duplex feast.

At Rome, St. Epigmenius, priest who, in the persecution of Diocletian, under the judge Turpius, was slain with the sword and so gained his martyrdom.

Also at Rome, at the time of Julian the Apostate, the suffering of Blessed Pigmenius, priest. Because of his faith in Christ, he was cast into the Tiber and drowned.

At Rome, the holy martyrs Mark and Timothy, who were crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Antoninus.

At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of the holy martyrs Timolaus, Dionysius, Pausides, Romulus, Alexander, another Alexander, Agapius, and a second Dionysius. In the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Urban, they were beheaded, thus earning crowns of (eternal) life.

In Morocco, the birthday of SS. Romulus and Secundus, brothers, who suffered for the faith of Christ.

At Trent, the suffering of the boy St. Simeon, who was most cruelly murdered by Jews, and afterward glorified with many miracles.

At Synnada in Phrygia, St. Agapitus, bishop.

At Brescia, St. Latinus, bishop.

In Syria, St. Seleucus, confessor.

In Sweden, St. Catherine, virgin, who was the daughter of St. Bridget.

Now if I go to the original website and check the blurb for St Gabriel the Archangel is says:-

Catholic Online Saints
St. Gabriel, the Archangel




Feastday: September 29 Patron of communications workers

The name Gabriel means "man of God," or "God has shown himself mighty." It appears first in the prophesies of Daniel in the Old Testament. The angel announced to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks. His name also occurs in the apocryphal book of Henoch. He was the angel who appeared to Zachariah to announce the birth of St. John the Baptizer. Finally, he announced to Mary that she would bear a Son Who would be conceived of the Holy Spirit, Son of the Most High, and Saviour of the world. The feast day is September 29th. St. Gabriel is the patron of communications workers.

So I am left with an Angel that should have a Feastday on 2 different days in two different months.....

As to why it would be on the 24th March - well that's 9 months before the birth of Christ, isn't it? And Gabriel was the Angel who announced the conception wasn't he?

 

[Paul S]

You're right - St. Gabriel was dropped this year because of Maundy Thursday, on March 24. His feast day is the day before the Annunciation, which is the following day, March 25. Both two offices are very similar, both having to do with the Annunciation.

As for the September feast, I'll let you figure that one out.

On both the pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II calendars, when are the feastdays of the angels?

 

[Ann M]

Please wait whilst I learn the name of the Angels..... I only know of Gabriel & Michael at the moment

 

[Ann M]

And Raphael..... how could I forget him!

okay, first up, the Feast of Guardian Angels.

Among the numerous changes made in the calendar by Clement X was the elevation of the Feast of Guardian Angels to the rank of an obligatory double for the whole Church to be kept on 2 October, this being the first unoccupied day after the feast of St. Michael.

For 2 October there is a proper Office in the Roman Breviary and a proper Mass in the Roman Missal, which contains all the choice extracts from Sacred Scripture bearing on the three-fold office of the angels, to praise God, to act as His messengers, and to watch over mortal men. "Let us praise the Lord whom the Angels praise, whom the Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy" (second antiphon of Lauds). "Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice" (Exodus 23; capitulum ad Laudes). The Gospel of the Mass includes that pointed text from St. Matthew 18:10: "See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." Although 2 October has been fixed for this feast in the Roman calendar, it is kept, by papal privilege, in Germany and many other places on the first Sunday (computed ecclesiastically) of September, and is celebrated with special solemnity and generally with an octave (Nilles, II, 503).

Second find - September 29.


Gabriel (Michael, Gabriel and Raphael)

Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.

Michael appears in Daniel's vision as "the great prince" who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.

Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.

Raphael's activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune.

The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's.

Comment:

Each of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God's protection, communication and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.

Quote:

"The question of how many angels could dance on the point of a pin no longer is absurd in molecular physics, with its discovery of how broad that point actually is, and what part invisible electronic 'messengers' play in the dance of life" (Lewis Mumford).

So the answer must be, that prior to Vatican II they had separate Feast Days - Michael September 29, Raphael October 24, and Gabriel March 24, and post Vatican II they all have the same Feast day September 29.

 

[Paul S]

Among the numerous changes made in the calendar by Clement X was the elevation of the Feast of Guardian Angels to the rank of an obligatory double for the whole Church to be kept on 2 October, this being the first unoccupied day after the feast of St. Michael.

So the answer must be, that prior to Vatican II they had separate Feast Days - Michael September 29, Raphael October 24, and Gabriel March 24, and post Vatican II they all have the same Feast day September 29.

Excellent finds.

But you're missing one feast on the pre-Vatican II calendar.

 

[Ann M]

I've come across a reference that has Michaels' feast day as May 8?

 

[Paul S]

I've come across a reference that has Michaels' feast day as May 8?

That's the one you're missing.

St. Michael has two feast days - May 8 (Apparition of St. Michael) and September 29.

 

[Paul S]

What saint is called the "glory of Iberia's throne", and why was he martyred?

 

[Ann M]

For this question we'll consult EWTN, which incidentally I have never seen!!


ST HERMENEGILD, MARTYR—586
Feast: April 13
From St. Gregory the Great, Dial. b.3, c. 31.; St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. b. 5, c. 39, and b.9, c. 16; Mariana, Hist. b. 5, c. 12; Flores, Espana Sagrada, t. 5, c. 2, p. 200; Henschenius, t. 2, Apr. p. 134.

Levigild, or Leovigild, the Goth,1 King of Spain, had two sons by his first wife Theodosia, namely, Hermenegild and Recared. These he educated in the Arian heresy, which he himself professed, but married Hermenegild, the eldest, to Ingondes, a zealous Catholic and daughter to Sigebert, King of Austrasia, in France. The grandees had hitherto disposed of their crown by election, but Levigild, to secure it to his posterity, associated his two sons with him in his sovereignty, and allotted to each a portion of his dominions to inure them to government, and Seville fell to the lot of the eldest. Ingondes had much to suffer from Gosvint, a bigoted Arian, whom Levigild had married after the death of Theodosia; but in spite of all her cruel treatment, she adhered strictly to the Catholic faith. And such was the force of her example, and of the instructions and exhortations of St. Leander, Bishop of Seville, that the prince became a convert; and, taking the opportunity of his father's absence, abjured his heresy and was received into the church by the imposition of hands, and the unction of chrism on the forehead. Levigild, who was already exasperated against his son, upon the first appearance of his change, being now informed of his open profession of the Catholic faith, in a transport of rage divested him of the title of king, and resolved to deprive him of his possessions, his princess, and even his life, unless he returned to his former sentiments. Hermenegild, looking upon himself as a sovereign prince, resolved to stand upon his defence, and was supported by all the Catholics in Spain; but they were by much too weak to defend him against the Arians. The prince therefore sent St. Leander to Constantinople to solicit Tiberius for succours. But he dying soon after and his successor, Maurice, being obliged to employ all his forces to defend his own dominions against the Persians, who had made many irruptions into the imperial territories, no succours were to be obtained. Hermenegild implored next the assistance of the Roman generals, who were with a small army in that part of Spain, on the coast of the Mediterranean, of which the empire of Constantinople still retained possession. They engaged themselves by oath to protect him, and received his wife Ingondes and infant son as hostages, but, being corrupted by Levigild's money, they basely betrayed him. Levigild held his son besieged in Seville above a year, till Hermenegild, no longer able to defend himself in his capital, fled secretly to join the Roman camp; but being informed of their treachery, he went to Cordova and thence to Osseto, a very strong place, in which there was a church held in particular veneration over all Spain. He shut himself up in this fortress with three hundred chosen men; but the place was taken and burnt by Levigild. The prince sought a refuge in a church at the foot of the altar; and the Arian king not presuming to violate that sacred place, permitted his second son, Recared, then an Arian, to go to him and to promise him pardon, in case he submitted himself and asked forgiveness. Hermenegild believed his father sincere, and going out, threw himself at his feet. Levigild embraced him and renewed his fair promises, with a thousand caresses, till he had got him into his own camp. He then ordered him to be stripped of his royal robes, loaded with chains, and conducted prisoner to the tower of Seville in 586, when the saint had reigned two years, as F. Flores proves from one of his coins and other monuments.

There he again employed all manner of threats and promises to draw him back to his heresy, and, hoping to overcome his constancy, caused him to be confined in a most frightful dungeon and treated with all sorts of cruelty. The martyr repeated always what he had before wrote to his father: <I confess your goodness to me has been extreme. I will preserve to my dying breath the respect, duty, and tenderness which I owe you; but is it possible that you should desire me to prefer worldly greatness to my salvation? I value the crown as nothing; I am ready to lose sceptre and life too rather than abandon the divine truth.> The prison was to him a school of virtue. He clothed himself in sackcloth and added other voluntary austerities to the hardships of his confinement, and with fervent prayers begged of God to vouchsafe him the strength and assistance which was necessary to support him in his combat for the truth. The solemnity of Easter being come, the perfidious father sent to him an Arian bishop in the night, offering to take him into favour if he received the communion from the hand of that prelate, but Hermenegild rejected the proposal with indignation, reproaching the messenger with the impiety of his sect as if he had been at full liberty. The bishop, returning to the Arian king with this account, the furious father, seeing the faith of his son proof against all his endeavours to pervert him, sent soldiers out of hand to dispatch him. They entered the prison and found the saint fearless and ready to receive the stroke of death, which they instantly inflicted on him, cleaving his head with an axe, whereby his brains were scattered on the floor. St. Gregory the Great attributes to the merits of this martyr the conversion of his brother, King Recared, and of the whole kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain. Levigild was stung with remorse for his crime, and though by God's secret but just judgment he was not himself converted, yet on his death-bed he recommended his son, Recared, to St. Leander, desiring him to instruct him in the same manner as he had done his brother, Hermenegild, that is, to make him a Catholic. This saint received the crown of martyrdom on Easter Eve, the 13th of April. His body remains at Seville. St. Gregory of Tours observes that whatever guilt this holy king and martyr incurred by taking up arms against his father, this at least was expiated by his heroic virtue and death. Before St. Hermenegild declared himself a Catholic, the persecution was raised with great violence against the Goths, who embraced the orthodox faith of the Trinity, and many lost their goods, many were banished, and several died of hunger, or by violence. St. Gregory of Tours ascribes not only the death of St. Hermenegild, but also this whole persecution, chiefly to the instigation of Gosvint.

St. Hermenegild began then to be truly a king, says St. Gregory the Great, when he became a martyr. From his first conversion to the true faith it was his main study to square his life by the most holy maxims of the gospel. Yet, perhaps, whilst he lived amidst the hurry, flatteries, and pomp of a throne, his virtue was for some time imperfect, and his heart was not perfectly crucified to the world. But humiliations and sufferings for Christ, which the saint bore with the heroic courage, the fidelity, and perfect charity of the martyrs, entirely broke all secret ties of his affections to the earth and rendered him already a martyr in the disposition of his soul before he attained to that glorious crown. Christ founded all the glory of his humanity, and that of his spiritual kingdom, the salvation of the universe, and all the other great designs of his sacred incarnation, upon the meanness of his poor and abject life, and his ignominious sufferings and death. This same conduct he held in his apostles and all his saints. Their highest exaltation in his grace and glory was built upon their most profound humility and the most perfect crucifixion of their hearts to the world and themselves; the foundation of which was most frequently laid by the greatest exterior as well as interior humiliations. How sweet, how glorious were the advantages of which, by this means, they became possessed even in this life! God making their souls his kingdom, and by his grace and holy charity reigning sovereignly in all their affections. ****ou hast made us a kingdom to our God, and we shall reign,> says all pious souls to Christ, penetrated with gratitude for his inexpressible mercy and goodness, with esteem for his grace and love alone, and with a contempt of all earthly things. They are truly kings, depending on God alone, being in all things, with Inexpressible joy, subject to him only, and to all creatures, purely for his sake; enjoying a perfect liberty, despising equally the frowns and the flatteries of the world, ever united to God. The riches of this interior kingdom, which they possess in Christ are incomprehensible, as St. Paul assures us. They consist in his grace, light, science of divine things, true wisdom, and sublime sentiments of his love and all virtues. In this kingdom, souls are so replenished with the fulness of God, as St. Paul expresses it, that they can desire no other goods This is to be truly rich. Joy and pleasure are possessed in this kingdom. The solid delight, sweetness, comfort, and peace, which a soul relishes in it, surpass all the heart can desire, or the understanding conceive. Lastly, all worldly splendor is less than a dream or shadow, if compared to the dignity, glory, and honor of this happy state. Thus was St. Hermenegild a great king in his chains. We also are invited to the same kingdom.

Endnotes

1 This name in original Gothic manuscripts is constantly written Liuvigild, as Flores observes. He began his reign in the year of our Lord 568, of the Spanish aera 606, and put St. Hermenegild to death in the eighteenth year of his reign, as is clear from an old chronicle published by Flores, Espana Sagrada, t. 2, p. 199.

(Taken from Vol. IV of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" by the Rev. Alban Butler, the 1864 edition published by D. & J. Sadlier, & Company)

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[Paul S]

What four Pope Martyrs do we celebrate this month, and how many men did they ordain while Pope?

And name all the degrees of Holy Orders and the Pope who set them up (he's one of the four).

 

[Ann M]

St. Pius V, Pope

Feastday: April 30



Pope from 1566-1572 and one of the foremost leaders of the Catholic Reformation. Born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, Italy, to a poor family, he labored as a shepherd until the age of fourteen and then joined the Dominicans, being ordained in 1528. Called Brother Michele, he studied at Bologna and Genoa, and then taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years before holding the posts of master of novices and prior for several Dominican houses. Named inquisitor for Como and Bergamo, he was so capable in the fulfillment of his office that by 1551, and at the urging of the powerful Cardinal Carafa, he was named by Pope Julius III commissary general of the Inquisition. In 1555, Carafa was elected Pope Paul IV and was responsible for Ghislieri’s swift rise as a bishop of Nepi and Sutri in 1556, cardinal in 1557, and grand inquisitor in 1558. While out of favor for a time under Pope Pius IV who disliked his reputation for excessive zeal, Ghislieri was unanimously elected a pope in succession to Pius on January 7, 1566. As pope, Pius saw his main objective as the continuation of the massive program of reform for the Church, in particular the full implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He published the Roman Catechism, the revised Roman Breviary, and the Roman Missal; he also declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church, commanded a new edition of the works of Thomas Aquinas, and created a commission to revise the Vulgate. The decrees of Trent were published throughout all Catholic lands, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World, and the pontiff insisted on their strict adherence. In 1571, Pius created the Congregation of the Index to give strength to the Church’s resistance to Protestant and heretical writings, and he used the Inquisition to prevent any Protestant ideas from gaining a foot hold in Italy. In dealing with the threat of the Ottoman Turks who were advancing steadily across the Mediterranean, Pius organized a formidable alliance between Venice and Spain, culminating in the Battle of Lepanto, which was a complete and shattering triumph over the Turks. The day of the victory was declared the Feast Day of Our Lady of Victory in recognition of Our Lady’s intercession in answer to the saying of the Rosary all over Catholic Europe. Pius also spurred the reforms of the Church by example. He insisted upon wearing his coarse Dominican robes, even beneath the magnificent vestments worn by the popes, and was wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life. His reign was blemished only by the continuing oppression of the Inquisition; the often brutal treatment of the Jews of Rome; and the ill advised decision to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I of England in February 1570, an act which also declared her deposed and which only worsened the plight of English Catholics. These were overshadowed in the view of later generations by his contributions to the Catholic Reformation. Pope Clement beatified him on May 1, 1672, and Pope Clement XI canonized him on May 22, 1712.

 

[Ann M]

St. Julius

Feastday: April 12

Julius whose feast day is April 12th. Julius was the son of a Roman named Rusticus. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337. Julius was soon involved in the Arian controversy when Eusebius of Nicomedia opposed the return of Athanasius to the See of Alexandria in 338. Eusebius and his followers elected George, whereupon the Arians elected Pistus. Julius convened a synod in Rome in 340 or 341 that neither group attended, and in a letter to the Eusebian bishops, Julius declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him. The matter was not finally settled until the Council of Sardica (Sofia), summoned by emperors Constans and Constantius in 342 or 343, declared Julius' action correct and that any deposed bishop had the right of appeal to the Pope in Rome. Julius built several basilicas and churches in Rome and died there on April 12.

 

[Ann M]

Pope Saint Martin I
Feastday: April 13



Martin I lay too sick to fight on a couch in front of the altar when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. But the thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn't stop the soldiers from grabbing him and hustling him down to their ship.

Elected pope in 649, Martin I had gotten in trouble for refusing to condone silence in the face of wrong. At that time there existed a popular heresy that held that Christ didn't have a human will, only a divine will. The emperor had issued an edict that didn't support Monothelism (as it was known) directly, but simply commanded that no one could discuss Jesus' will at all.

Monothelism was condemned at a council convened by Martin I. The council affirmed, once again, that since Jesus had two natures, human and divine, he had two wills, human and divine. The council then went further and condemned Constans edict to avoid discussion stating, "The Lord commanded us to shun evil and do good, but not to reject the good with the evil."

In his anger at this slap in the face, the emperor sent his soldiers to Rome to bring the pope to him. When Martin I arrived in Constantinople after a long voyage he was immediately put into prison. There he spent three months in a filthy, freezing cell while he suffered from dysentery. He was not allowed to wash and given the most disgusting food. After he was condemned for treason without being allowed to speak in his defense he was imprisoned for another three months.

From there he was exiled to the Crimea where he suffered from the famine of the land as well as the roughness of the land and its people. But hardest to take was the fact that the pope found himself friendless. His letters tell how his own church had deserted him and his friends had forgotten him. They wouldn't even send him oil or corn to live off of.

He died two years later in exile in the year 656, a martyr who stood up for the right of the Church to establish doctrine even in the face of imperial power.

 

[Ann M]

St. Cletus

Feastday: April 26

St. Cletus Popes, Martyrs April 26 A.D. 91 St. Cletus was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede, and other Martyrologists, style him a martyr. He was buried near St. Linus, on the Vatican, end his relics still remain in that church.

 

[Paul S]

Pope St. Julius wasn't a martyr.

And I should have been more specific. On the traditional calendar, the feast day of Pope St. Pius V is May 5. But good finds, anyway.

The four Popes Martyrs I was asking about are celebrated two on one feast day and two on the other.