Category: Liturgical Year

Today is Wednesday of the 4th week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On February 1, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, martyr, who died in A.D. 110. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Ignatius, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

42. The age of enlightenment further delineated the separation of “the religion of the learned” which was potentially close to the Liturgy, and the “religion of the simple people” which, of its very nature, was closer to popular piety. Both the “learned” and the “simple people”, however, shared the same religious practices. The “learned” promoted a religious practice based on knowledge and the enlightenment of the intelligence and eschewed popular piety which they regaded as superstitious and fanatical.

The aristocratic sense which permeated many aspects of culture had its influence on the Liturgy. The encyclopedic character of knowledge, coupled with a critical sense and an interest in research, led to the publication of many of the liturgical sources. The ascetical concerns of some movements, often influenced by Jansenism, fuelled a call for a return to the purity of the Liturgy of antiquity. While certainly redolent of the cultural climate, the renewal of interest in the Liturgy was fuelled by a pastoral concern for the clergy and laity, especially from the seventeenth century in France.

In many areas of its pastoral concern, the Church devoted its attention to popular piety. There was an intensification of that form of apostolic activity which tended to integrate, to some degree, the Liturgy and popular piety. Hence, preaching was encouraged at significant liturgical times, such as Advent and on Sundays when adult catechesis was provided. Such preaching aimed at the conversion of the hearts and morals of the faithful, and encouraged them to approach the Sacrament of Penance, attend Sunday Mass regularly, and to demonstrate the importance of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and Viaticum.

Popular piety, which had been effective in stemming the negative influences of Protestantism, now became an effective antidote to the corrosiveness of rationalism and to the baleful consequences of Jansenism within the Church. It emerged strengthened and enriched from this task and from the extensive development of the parish missions. Popular piety emphasized certain aspects of the Christian mystery in a new way, for example, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and new “days”, such as the “first Friday of the month”, gained importance in the piety of the faithful.

With regard to the eighteenth century, mention must be made of the work of Ludivico Antonio Muratori who combined erudition with notable pastoral activity. In his famous work, Della regolata devozione dei cristiani, he advocated a form of religiosity based on the Liturgy and the Scriptures that eschewed all attachment to superstition and magic. The work of Benedict XIV (Prospero Lambertini) was also significant, especially his authorization of the use of the Bible in the vernacular.

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Today is Tuesday of the 4th week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 31, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. John Bosco, priest and confessor who died in A.D. 1888. In the Ordinary Form, it is a memorial, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. John Bosco, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

41. The Catholic reform, with its positive concern to promote a doctrinal, moral and institutional reform of the Church and to counteract the spread of protestantism, in a certain sense endorsed the complex cultural phenomenon of the Baroque. This, in turn, exercised a considerable influence on the literary, artistic and musical expressions of Catholic piety.

In the post Triedntine period, the relationship bewteen Liturgy and popular piety acquires some new aspects: the Liturgy entered a static period of substantial uniformity while popular piety entered a period of extraordinary development.

While careful to establish certain limits, determined by the need for vigilance with regard to the exuberant or the fantastic, the Catholic reform promoted the creation and diffusion of pious exercises which were seen as an important means of defending the Catholic faith and of nourishing the piety of the faithful. The rise of Confraternities devoted to the mysteries of the Passion of Our Lord, as well as those of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints are good examples. These usually had the triple purpose of penance, formation of the laity and works of charity. Many beautiful images, full of sentiment, draw their origins from this form of popular piety and still continue to nourish the faith and religious experience of the faithful.

The “popular missions” emerged at this time and contributed greatly to the spread of the pious exercises. Liturgy and popular piety coexist in these exercises, even if somewhat imbalanced at times. The parochial missions set out to encourage the faithful to approach the Sacrament of Penance and to receive Holy Communion. They regarded pious exercises as a means of inducing conversion and of assuring popular participation in an act of worship.

Pious exercises were frequently collected and organized into prayer manuals. Reinforced by due ecclesiastical approval, such became true and proper aids to worship for the various times of the day, month and year, as well as for innumerable circumstances that might arise in life.

The relationship between Liturgy and popular piety during the period of the Catholic Reform cannot be seen simply in contrasting terms of stability and development. Anomalies also existed: pious exercises sometimes took place within the liturgical actions and were superimposed on those same actions. In pastoral practice, they were sometimes more important than the Liturgy. These situations accentuated a detachment from Sacred Scripture and lacked a sufficient emphasis on the centrality of the Paschal mystery of Christ, foundation and summit of all Christian worship, and its priviliged expression in Sunday.

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Today is Monday of the 4th week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 30, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Martina, virgin and martyr, who died in A.D. 228. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Martina, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

40. The reform of the Council of Trent brought many advantages for the Liturgy. There was a return to the “ancient norm of the Fathers” in many of the Church’s rites, notwithstanding the relatively limited scientific knowledge of the period then available. Elements and impositions extraneous to the Liturgy or excessively connected with popular sensibilities were eliminated. The doctrinal content of the liturgical texts was subjected to examination to ensure that they reflected the faith in its purity. The Roman Liturgy acquired a notable ritual unity, dignity and beauty.

The reform, however, had a number of indirect negative consequences: the Liturgy seemed to acquire a certain fixed state which derived from the rubrics regulating it rather from its nature. In its active subject, it seemed to become almost exclusively hierarchical which reinforced the existing dualism between Liturgy and popular piety.

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Today is the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is the 4th Sunday after Epiphany.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 29, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, confessor and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 1622. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Francis de Sales, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

39. In conformity with the dispositions of the Council, synods were held in many of the ecclesiatical provinces. These often demonstarted a concern to bring the faithful to an active participation in the celebration of the divine mysteries. Simultaneously, the Roman Pontiffs began a vast programme of liturgical reform. The Roman Calendar and the liturgical books of the Roman Rite were revised in the relatively short space of time between 1568 and 1614. In 1588 the Sacred Congregation of Rites was established to promote and correctly order the liturgical celebrations of the Roman Church. The Catechismus ad Parochosfulfilled the provision of pastoral and liturgical formation.

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Today is Saturday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 28, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Peter Nolasco, confessor, who died in A.D. 1256. It is a Class III day.

In the Extraordinary Form, we also celebrate St. Agnes, virgin and martyr. This celebration is a commemoration.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Thomas Aquinas, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Peter Nolasco, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Agnes, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

38. Shortly after the close of the fifth Lateran Council (6 March 1517), which had made provisions for the instruction of youth in the Liturgy, the crisis leading to the rise of Protestantism arose. Its supporters raised many objections to the Catholic doctrine on the sacraments, to the Church’s worship, and to popular piety.

The Council of Trent (1545-1563), convoked to resolve the situation facing the People of God as a result of the spread of protestantism, addressed questions relating to the Liturgy and popular piety from the doctrinal and [ritual] perspective, at all three of its phases. Becasue of the historical context and the doctrinal nature of the matters dealt with by the Council, the liturgical and sacramental questions placed before the Council were answered predominantly from a doctrinal perspective. Errors were denounced and abuses condemned. The Church’s faith and liturgical tradition were defended. The decree De reformatione generali proposed a pastoral programme, whose activation was entrusted to the Holy See and to the Bishops, which demonstrated concern for the problems arising form the liturgical instruction of the people.

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Today is Friday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 27, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Angela Merici, virgin and founder of the Ursulines. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. John Chrysostom, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 407. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Angel Merici, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. John Chrysostom, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

37. Among those most concerned for the reform of the Church at beginning of the sixteenth century, mention must be of two Camoldelesi monks, Paolo Giustiniani and Pietro Querini, authors of the famous Libellus ad Leonem X which set out important principles for the revitalization of the Liturgy so as to open its treasures to the entire People of God. They advocated biblical instruction for the clergy and religious, the adoption of the vernacular in the celebration of the divine mysteries and the reform of the liturgical books. They also advocated the elimination of spurious elements deriving from erroneous popular piety, and the promotion of catechesis so as to make the faithful aware of the importance of the Liturgy.

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Today is Thursday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 26, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Timothy and Titus, bishops. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyr, who died in A.D. 169. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St.s Timothy and Titus, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Polycarp, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

36. From the end of the fifteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth century, the discovery of Africa, America and the Far East caused the question of the relationship between Liturgy and popular piety to be posed in new terms.

While the work of evangelizing and catechising countries distant from the cultural and [ritual] centre of the Roman Rite was certainly accomplished through preaching the Word and celebrating the sacraments (cf. Mt 28, 19), it also came about through the pious exercises popularized by the missionaries.

Pious exercises became a means of transmitting the Gospel message and, following conversion, of preserving the Christian faith. By virtue of the norms designed to preserve the Roman Rite, there were few reciprocal influences bewteen the Liturgy and the autochthonous cultures. In Paraguay, the Reductiones are a rare example of this. The encounter with these cultures, however, was easily facilitated in the field of popular piety.

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Today is Wednesday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 25, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul the apostle. In the Ordinary Form, it is a feast, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class III day.

In the Extraordinary Form, we also celebrate St. Peter, apostle. This celebration is a commemoration.

If you’d like to learn more about the Conversion of St. Paul the apostle, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Peter, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

35. The De Imitatione Christi is regarded as a tyical expression of the devotio moderna. It has exercised an extraordinary and beneficial influence on many of the Lord’s disciples in their quest for Christian perfection. The De Imitatione Christi orients the faithful towards a certain type of individual piety which accentuates detachment from the world and the invitation to hear the Master’s voice interiorly. Less attention is devoted to the communitarian and ecclesial aspects of prayer and to liturgical spirituality.

Many excellent pious exercises are to be found among those who cultivated the devotio moderna, as well as [ritual] expressions deriving from sincerely devout persons. A full appreciation of the celebration of the Liturgy is not, however, always to be found in such circles.

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Today is Tuesday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 24, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Timothy, bishop of Ephesus, martyr, who died in A.D. 97. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Francis de Sales, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Timothy, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

The Modern Period

34. At the dawn of the modern period, a balanced relationship between Liturgy and popular piety did not seem any more likely. The devotio moderna of the late fifteenth century was popular with many great spiritual masters and was widespread among clerics and cultivated laymen. It promoted the development of meditative and affective pious exercises based principally on the humanity of Christ – the myteries of his infancy, his hidden life, his Passion and death. However, the primacy accorded to contemplation, the importance attributed to subjectivity and a certain ascetical pragmatism exalting human endeavour ensured that Liturgy no longer appeared as the primary source of the Christian life in the eyes of men and women advanced in the spiritual life.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today is Tuesday of the 3rd week in Ordinary Time. The

liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Epiphany, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On January 24, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church. It

is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Timothy, bishop of Ephesus, martyr, who died in A.D. 97. It is a

Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Francis de Sales, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Timothy, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

The Modern Period

34. At the dawn of the modern period, a balanced relationship between Liturgy

and popular piety did not seem any more likely. The devotio moderna of the late fifteenth century was

popular with many great spiritual masters and was widespread among clerics and cultivated laymen. It

promoted the development of meditative and affective pious exercises based principally on the humanity of

Christ – the myteries of his infancy, his hidden life, his Passion and death. However, the primacy accorded to

contemplation, the importance attributed to subjectivity and a certain ascetical pragmatism exalting human

endeavour ensured that Liturgy no longer appeared as the primary source of the Christian life in the eyes of men

and women advanced in the spiritual life.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download