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Ann M

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St Patrick, BC
Double

Fast Day

Matins
1st Nocturn: Lessons Fidelis Sermo with Responds from the Common
Lesson IX of the Feria

Lauds
Commemoration of the Feria (Ant on Bened and Collect proper)

Prime
Martyrology : Announcement of Feast of Seven Sorrows of BVM from table of movable feasts

Vespers
Of the following day (proper)

Commemoration of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, BCD (Ant on Mag: O Doctor... beate Cyrille)
Commemoration of the preceding day
Commemoration of the Feria (Ant on Mag and Collect proper)
 
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Paul S

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Ann M said:
:scratch: Ummm, you mean I found that answer already? Okay maybe I better go back and read the answer, and this answer might jump out at me :)

Yep - those three Commemorations (St. Cyril, St. Patrick, and the feria) were the answer.

Byt why must these three be said, and why is Vespers "of the following day"?
 
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Ann M

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St Cyril is said for his feastday? St Patrick for his feast day? and the feria because it is a second class that is impeded and so must be commemorated.

Now they must be said at Vespers for the following day because the Feast of St Joseph takes precedence over all three, and following it is Palm Sunday and Holy week, so it is the last truly available day for it?
 
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Paul S

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Ann M said:
St Cyril is said for his feastday? St Patrick for his feast day? and the feria because it is a second class that is impeded and so must be commemorated.

Exactly right. :)

All the ferias of Advent, Lent, and Passiontide are commemorated if a feast day falls on them.

Ann M said:
Now they must be said at Vespers for the following day because the Feast of St Joseph takes precedence over all three, and following it is Palm Sunday and Holy week, so it is the last truly available day for it?

Very close, but the following day isn't the feast of St. Joseph.

But you're right - when two feasts overlap at Vespers, the higher-ranked feast takes precedence and the lower-ranked is normally commemorated. Since the following day takes precedence over both St. Patrick and St. Cyril, both saints must be commemorated at Vespers.
 
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Paul S

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Ann M said:
Okay, sorry, I keep confusing my dates. Now, we're talking about Vespers on March 17, so the feast day that impedes everything is the Feast of Seven Sorrows of BVM?

Yep. Wonderful feast.
 
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Ann M

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Exsultet

The Easter Proclamation


Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour,
Radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

The Lord be with you.
response And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
response We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
response It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slav'ry,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

This is night,
when Christians ev'rywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed,
when heaven is wedded to earth
and we are reconciled to God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honour of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
 
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Ann M

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More information.......



Exsultet


The Exsultet, sometimes seen as "Exultet" and also referred to as the Praeconium Paschale, is an ancient chant sung during the Easter Vigil. It is traditionally sung by the deacon after the Paschal candle has been lit and the clergy have processed to the altar. The lighted Paschal candle contains a twofold symbolism. First, it represents the pillar of fire that went before the Israelites during their flight from Egypt. Second, it represents Christ, who is the light of the world. The procession likewise has a twofold meaning. It symbolizes the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt, and also the arrival of Christ who is the Savior of the world. The Exsultet sings of this symbolism and recalls for us the history of our salvation; from the fall of Adam, to the events of that first Passover held by Moses and the Israelites, and then finally the events of that last Passover at which Jesus suffered, died, rose from the dead and by which mankind was redeemed. The tone of the hymn is very much one of joy at having received so great a gift as our redemption and eternal life.

The final verses from both the 1962 Missal and the 1975 Missal are given below.

Exsultet iam angelica turba caelorum exsultent divina mysteria et pro tanti Regis victoria, tuba insonet salutaris.

Let now the heavenly hosts of angels rejoice let the living mysteries be joyfully celebrated: and let a sacred trumpet proclaim the victory of so great a King.

Gaudeat et tellus tantis irradiata fulgoribus et, aeterni regis splendore illustrata, totius orbis se sentiat amisisse caliginem.

Let the earth also be filled with joy, illuminated with such resplendent rays; and let men know that the darkness which overspread the whole world is chased away by the splendor of our eternal King.

Laetetur et mater Ecclesia tanti luminis adornata fulgoribus: et magnis populorum vocibus haec aula resultet.

Let our mother the Church be also glad, finding herself adorned with the rays of so great a light and let this temple resound with the joyful acclamations of the people.

Quapropter adstantes vos, fratres carissimi, ad tam miram huius sancti luminis claritatem, una mecum, quaeso, Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate.

Wherefore, beloved brethren, you who are now present at the admirable brightness of this holy light, I beseech you to invoke with me the mercy of almighty God.

Ut, qui me non meis meritis intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare luminis sui claritatem infundens cerei huius laudem implere perficiat.

That he, who has admitted me into the number of his Levites not on my own merits, will, by an infusion of his light upon me, enable me to celebrate the praises of this light.

Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium suum, qui cum eo vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, who with Him and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth one God for ever and ever.

R. Amen. R. Amen.

V. Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.

V. Sursum corda. R. Habemus ad Dominum.

V. Lift up your hearts. R. We have lifted them up to the Lord.

V. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro. R. Dignum et iustum est.

V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. R. It is fitting and just.

Vere dignum et iustum est, invisibilem Deum Patrem omnipotentem Filiumque eius unigenitum, Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, toto cordis ac mentis affectu et vocis ministerio personare.

It is truly fitting and just to proclaim with all the affection of our heart and soul, and with the sound of our voice the invisible God the Father almighty, and his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ.

Qui pro nobis aeterno Patri Adae debitum solvit et veteris piaculi cautionem pio cruore detersit.

Who paid for us to his eternal Father the debt of Adam: and by his sacred blood canceled the guilt contracted by original sin.

Haec sunt enim festa Paschalia, in quibus vere ille Agnus occiditur, cuius sanguine postes fidelium consecrantur.

For this is the Paschal solemnity, in which the true Lamb was slain, by whose blood the doors of the faithful are consecrated.

Haec nox est, in qua primum patres nostros, filios Israel, eductos de Aegypto, Mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti. Haec igitur nox est, quae peccatorum tenebras columnae illuminatione purgavit.

This is the night in which thou formerly broughtest forth our forefathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, leading them dry-foot through the Red Sea. This then is the night which dissipated the darkness of sin by the light of the pillar.

Haec nox est, quae hodie per universum mundum in Christo credentes a vitiis saeculi, et caligine peccatorum segregatos reddit gratiae, sociat sanctitati.

This is the night which now delivers all over the world those that believe in Christ from the vices of the world and darkness of sin, restores them to grace, and clothes them with sanctity.

Haec nox est, in qua, destructis vinculis mortis, Christus ab inferis victor ascendit.

This is the night in which Christ broke the chains of death, and ascended conqueror from hell.

Nihil enim nobis nasci profuit, nisi redimi profuisset.

For it availed us nothing to be born, unless it had availed us to be redeemed.

O mira circa nos tuae pietatis dignatio! O inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis: ut servum redimeres, Filium tradidisti!

O how admirable is thy goodness towards us! O how inestimable is thy love! Thou hast delivered up thy Son to redeem a slave.

O certe necessarium Adae peccatum, quod Christi morte deletum est!

O truly necessary sin of Adam, which the death of Christ has blotted out!

O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!

O happy fault, that merited such and so great a Redeemer!

O vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit!

O truly blessed night, which alone deserves to know the time and hour when Christ rose again from hell.

Haec nox est, de qua scriptum est: Et nox sicut dies illuminabitur: et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.

This is the night of which it is written: And the night shall be as light as the day, and the night is my illumination in my delights.

Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera, culpas lavat: et reddit innocentiam lapsis, et maestis laetitiam. Fugat odia, concordiam parat, et curvat imperia.

Therefore the sanctification of this night blots out crimes, washes away sins, and restores innocence to sinners, and joy to the sorrowful. It banishes enmities, produces concord, and humbles empires.

In huius igitur noctis gratia, suscipe, sancte Pater laudis huius sacrificium vespertinum, quod tibi in haec cerei oblatione sollemni, per ministrorum manus de operibus apum, sacrosancta reddit ecclesia.

Therefore on this sacred night, receive, O holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this sacrifice, which thy holy Church by the hands of her ministers presents to thee in the solemn offering of this wax candle made out of the labor of bees.

Sed iam columnae huius praeconia novimus, quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit. Qui, licet sit divisus in partes, mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit. Alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosae huius lampadis apis mater eduxit.

And now we know the excellence of this pillar, which the bright fire lights for the honor of God. Which fire, though now divided, suffers no loss from the communication of its light. Because it is fed by the melted wax, which the mother bee wrought for the substance of this precious lamp.

Ending according to the 1962 Missal: Ending according to the 1962 Missal:

O vere beata nox, quae exspoliavit Aegyptos, ditavit Hebraeos nox, in qua terrenis caelestia, humanis divina iunguntur!

O truly blessed night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews. A night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man.

Oramus ergo te, Domine, ut cereus iste in honorem tui nominis consecratus, ad noctis huius caliginem destruendam, indeficiens perseveret. Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus, supernis luminaribus misceatur. Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat: Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum: Ille qui regressus ab inferis, humano generi serenus illuxit.

We beseech thee therefore, O Lord, that this candle, consecrated to the honor of thy name, may continue burning to dissipate the darkness this night. And being accepted as a sweet savor, may be united with the celestial lights. Let the morning star find it alight, that star which never sets. Which being returned from hell, shone with brightness on mankind.

Precamur ergo te, Domine, ut nos famulos tuos, omnemque clerum, et devotissimum populum, una cum beatissimo Papa nostro N. et Antistite nostro N. quiete temporum concessa, in his paschalibus gaudiis, assidua protectione regere, gubernare, et conservare digneris. Per eundem Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

We beseech thee therefore, O Lord, to grant us peaceable times during these Paschal solemnities, and with thy constant protection to rule, govern, and preserve us thy servants, all the clergy, and the devout laity, together with our holy Pope N. and our Bishop N. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ thy Son : who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth one God for ever and ever.

R. Amen. R. Amen.

Ending according to the 1975 Missal: Ending according to the 1975 Missal:

O vere beata nox, in qua terrenis caelestia, humanis divina iunguntur! O truly blessed night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man!
Oramus ergo te, Domine, ut cereus iste in honorem tui nominis consecratus, ad noctis huius caliginem destruendam, indeficiens perseveret. Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus, supernis luminaribus misceatur. Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat: Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum: Christus Filius tuus, qui regressus ab inferis, humano generi serenus illuxit, et vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.

We beseech thee therefore, O Lord, that this candle, consecrated to the honor of thy name, may continue burning to dissipate the darkness this night. And being accepted as a sweet savor, may be united with the celestial lights. Let the morning star find it alight, that star which never sets: Christ Thy Son, who came back from hell, and shone with brightness on mankind, and who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.

R. Amen. R. Amen.

Latin from the 1962 & 1975 Missal. Tr by Abbot Cabrol, OSB, 1934.
 
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Ann M

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On a page about bee stings I found this.....

n some traditional Catholic and Anglican Easter ceremonies (I don't know about Eastern Orthodoxy, although I could probably look it up), a blessing for bees remains in the Exsultet (i.e., the blessing of the candle). Part of the reason for this, as Tim said, is that bees were thought to procreate asexually and served therefore as a symbol for the Virgin Birth of Christ. Another reason is that they were responsible for the wax that made the Paschal Candle itself. The line -- which some churches delete in modern services, much to my chagrin -- goes something like this:

"In the grace of this night, then, O Father, receive for an evening sacrifice this burning light, which holy Church renders unto Thee at the hand of her ministers in the solemn offering of this candle of wax, wrought by bees. Though divided into parts, yet it suffers no loss from the light which it imparts. For it is fed from the melted wax which the mother bee wrought for the substance of this precious lamp." - Ayse


Wow!! Paul, you're not only teachings us more about the church, but also about nature too!! :thumbsup:
 
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Paul S

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I see you already found it.

The worker bees, which, by the way, are virgin females, represent Mary. Just as the work of the bees gave us the Paschal Candle, so did Mary give us Christ and our redemption.

Bring back the bees!

In the original Exsultet, there's a much longer "praise of the bee", which I'll see if I can find. It hasn't been part of the Mass for a long time, though, since it's not in my 1570 Missal.

In former times, when the Exsultet was written on a long scroll and read this way, these scrolls had pictures illustrating the text on them. Bees were always common.
 
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Ann M

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Visited Catholic Cu;lture website.....



Address on Bees

Introduction (by the translator)

Bees are fascinating little creatures of God. They have always intrigued mankind by their subtle, winning ways, though on occasion some of their ways are less than winning and one is not subtle at all. The observation and study of their structure, habits, spirit of work, organization, and marvelous co-operation, ever interested man even more than their valuable products of honey and wax. Then, too, lessons of wisdom abound in bees.

Who has not delighted in the exact descriptions of the old classic authors? Homer sings of bees which "issuing ever fresh from a hollow rock, fly in clusters on the vernal flowers" (Iliad, II, 87). Virgil vividly notes their activity in the early summer fields and meadows, and in the hive, where "the work goes busily forward, and the fragrant honey is redolent of thyme" (Georgics, IV, 169). Shakespeare, too, tells of "singing masons building roofs of gold" and of dire punishment meted out by "sad-eyed justice" to the "lazy, yawning drone" (Henry V).

Holy Scripture, especially the Old Testament, speaks quite often of bees. Dense armies of soldiers are compared to bees (Is. 7:18) chasing man (Deut. 1:44) and surrounding him (Ps. 117:12). "The bee," says Ecclesiasticus (11:3), "is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness." And an addition to the Septuagint version of Proverbs (6th chapter) commends the bee after the ant: "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom .... Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and how her industry deserves our respect, for kings and the sick make use of the product of her labor for their health. Indeed, she is glorious and desired by all, and though she be frail, she is honored, because she treasures wisdom."

Honey is often mentioned in Holy Scripture; for instance, Canaan was a land that "floweth with milk and honey" (Ex. 3:8). Honey was a rather essential ingredient of Saint John the Baptist's diet (Matt. 3:4). I do not know that Holy Scripture anywhere mentions beeswax.

Deborah, the Hebrew word for bee, is an Old Testament feminine name. Rebecca's nurse bore that name (Gen. 35:8).

The Fathers of the Church draw many lessons from bees. Following in their footsteps, spiritual writers like Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Teresa of Avila see holy wisdom in these tiny humming insects. For example, Saint Teresa says that in the prayer of quiet the will should not chase after the understanding, which now is "merely making itself a nuisance," but rather enjoy its tranquil union with God and "be as recollected as the wise little bee. For if no bees entered the hive and they all went about trying to bring each other in, there would not be much chance of their making any honey" (Autobiography, Chapter 15). Elsewhere she asserts that we should sometimes leave off soul-searching, remembering "that the bee is constantly flying about from flower to flower, and in the same way, believe me, the soul must sometimes emerge from self-knowledge and soar aloft in meditation upon the greatness and the majesty of its God" (Interior Castle, I, 2). Again, referring to the humility which must be in souls favored with visions, she avers that "if what should engender humility in the soul, which knows it does not deserve such a favor, makes it proud, it becomes like a spider, which turns all its food into poison, instead of resembling the bee, which turns it into honey" (Foundations, Chapter 8).

Of course, the patron of bees is Saint Ambrose, and the reason for it will be found in the breviary in the second nocturne of his feast. Saint Dominic is also spoken of as another patron of the bees, but no one seems to know just why.

The bee comes into the liturgy also: for example, the famous apis argumentosa appears in a versicle of Matins for Saint Cecilia's day: "Busy like a bee, thou didst serve the Lord." And everyone recalls the "mother bee" of Holy Saturday morning.

Granted this age-old tradition, sacred and secular, of seeking wisdom in bees, it is not surprising to find Pius XII discoursing on bees charmingly and instructively. The apiarists of Italy held a national convention in Rome last November, and on the 27th they went in a body to pay their respects to the Pope. In public audience they presented him with gifts, honey and beeswax, the latter probably in the form of candles. The Holy Father graciously replied.



ADDRESS OF PIUS XII

November 27, 1948

Your presence in such large numbers, your desire to assemble before Us, beloved sons, is a real comfort: and so We express our heartfelt gratitude for your homage and your gifts, both particularly pleasing to Us. Beyond its material and technical importance, the work which you represent, by its nature and significance has a psychological, moral, social, and even religious interest of no small value. Have not bees been sung almost universally in the poetry, sacred no less than profane, of all times?

Impelled and guided by instinct, a visible trace and testimony of the unseen wisdom of the Creator, what lessons do not bees give to men, who are, or should be, guided by reason, the living reflection of the divine intellect!

Bees are models of social life and activity, in which each class has its duty to perform and performs it exactly—one is almost tempted to say conscientiously—without envy, without rivalry, in the order and position assigned to each, with care and love. Even the most inexperienced observer of bee culture admires the delicacy and perfection of this work. Unlike the butterfly which flits from flower to flower out of pure caprice; unlike the wasp and the hornet, brutal aggressors, who seem intent on doing only harm with no benefit for anyone, the bee pierces to the very depths of the flower's calix diligently, adroitly, and so delicately, that once its precious treasure has been gathered, it gently leaves the flowers without having injured in the least the light texture of their garments or caused a single one of their petals the loss of its immaculate freshness.

Then, loaded down with sweet-scented nectar, pollen, and propolis, without capricious gyrations, without lazy delays, swift as an arrow, with precise, unerring, certain flight, it returns to the hive, where valorous work goes on intensely to process the riches so carefully garnered, to produce the wax and the honey. Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragantia mella. (Virgil, Georgics, 4, 169.)

Ah, if men could and would listen to the lesson of the bees: if each one knew how to do his daily duty with order and love at the post assigned to him by Providence; if everyone knew how to enjoy, love, and use in the intimate harmony of the domestic hearth the little treasures accumulated away from home during his working day: if men, with delicacy, and to speak humanly, with elegance, and also, to speak as a Christian, with charity in their dealings with their fellow men, would only profit from the truth and the beauty conceived in their minds, from the nobility and goodness carried about in the intimate depths of their hearts, without offending by indiscretion and stupidity, without soiling the purity of their thought and their love, if they only knew how to assimilate without jealousy and pride the riches acquired by contact with their brothers and to develop them in their turn by reflection and the work of their own minds and hearts; if, in a word, they learned to do by intelligence and wisdom what bees do by instinct—how much better the world would be!

Working like bees with order and peace, men would learn to enjoy and have others enjoy the fruit of their labors, the honey and the was, the sweetness and the light in this life here below.

Instead, how often, alas, they spoil the better and more beautiful things by their harshness, violence, and malice: how often they seek and find in every thing only imperfection and evil, and misinterpreting even the most honest intentions, turn goodness into bitterness!

Let them learn therefore to enter with respect, trust, and charity into the minds and hearts of their fellow men discreetly but deeply; then they like the bees will know how to discover in the humblest souls the perfume of nobility and of eminent virtue, sometimes unknown even to those who possess it. They will learn to discern in the depths of the most obtuse intelligence, of the most uneducated persons, in the depths even of the minds of their enemies, at least some trace of healthy judgment, some glimmer of truth and goodness.

As for you, beloved sons, who while bending over your beehives perform with all care the most varied and delicate work for your bees, let your spirits rise in mystic flight to experience the kindness of God, to taste the sweetness of His word and His law (Ps. 18:11; 118: 103), to contemplate the divine light symbolized by the burning flame of the candle, product of the mother bee, as the Church sings in her admirable liturgy of Holy Saturday:

Alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosae hujus lampadis apis mater eduxit.
(For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.)
 
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Paul S

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Here's the "praise of the bee" paragraph:

...lampadis apis mater eduxit. Apis ceteris, quae subiecta sunt homini animantibus antecellit. Cum sit minima corporis parvitate, ingentes animos angusto versat in pectore, viribus imbecilla sed fortis ingenio. Haec explorata temporum vice, cum canitiem pruinosa hiberna posuerint, et glaciale senium verni temporis moderata deterserint, statim prodeundi ad laborem cura succedit; dispersaque per agros, libratis paululum pinnibus, cruribus suspensis insidunt, prati ore legere flosculos; oneratis victualibus suis, ad castra remeant, ibique aliae inaestimabili arte cellulas tenaci glutino instruunt, aliae liquantia mella stipant, aliae vertunt flores in ceram, aliae ore natos fingunt, aliae collectis et foliis nectar includunt. O vere beata et mirabilis apis, cuius nec sexum masculi violant, foetus non quessant, nec filii destruunt castitatem; sicut sancta concepit virgo Maria, virgo peperit et virgo permansit. O vere beata nox, que expoliavit Aegyptos, ...

The bee excels the other living creatures which are subject to man. Though it is the least in the smallness of its body, it houses a huge heart in a narrow chest; in strength it is weak but in character, strong. When the change of seasons has been confirmed and when they have removed the grayness from frosty winter and tempering the icy gloom of spring time have swept it away, there immediately follows a desire to go to work; dispersed through the fields on slightly poised wings with their legs hanging they attack, collecting the little flowers of the meadow in their mouths. With their burdens of food they return to quarters and there some build little cells out of tough glue with priceless skill, some pack flowing honey, some turn flowers into wax, some shape the young with their mouths, and some enclose nectar in the collected leaves. O truly blessed and wonderful bee unceasing at bringing forth young, whose sex males neither violate, nor whose chastity sons do not destroy; just as holy Mary conceived as a virgin and gave birth as a virgin and a virgin remained.
 
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Ann M

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Thinking caps are on.. :scratch: :scratch:

It is said just before the oratio, or prayer, in all the Canonical Hours in the triduum of Holy Week, except the Vespers and Compline of Holy Saturday. As it is also the fourth in order of the seven penitential psalms (q.v.), its times of recitation will be governed by the appropriate rubric in the Breviary.

So we are looking at Matins, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline? For Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & Holy Saturday of Holy week, except for Vespers & Compline on Holy Saturday?

Maundy Thursday - 7 times
Good Friday - 7 times
Holy Saturday - 5 times


So we're up to 19 and trying to work out the penitential psalms bit :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:
 
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