CHRISTIAN FEASTS AND CUSTOMS #3

 Christian Feasts and Customs #3

Where they all came from - History - Traditions

FROM THE BOOK "CHRISTIAN FEASTS AND CUSTOMS" (1952)

By Francis Weiser

CHAPTER 2

WEEKDAYS

DAILY WORSHIP OF PRAYER

Christian prayer is the breathing of the Mystical Body of Christ,

the primary and most spontaneous manifestation of the

supernatural life in the Church. God is adored and honored not

only through the Holy Sacrifice (which is itself imbedded in an

exalted ritual of prayer), but also through the private prayers

of the faithful and the official performance of the Divine Office

by priests and religious. This prayer life, by its very nature,

is a daily task, a duty of honor for all the faithful. The

recital or chanting of the Divine Office, moreover, binds those

who are obliged to perform it, under serious obligation each day.

ORIGIN  

In the Old Testament it was a custom among pious Jews to pray

three times a day: in the morning, in the afternoon at three

o'clock, and at night. This practice is mentioned in the Bible,

which tells us that the prophet Daniel (sixth century B.C.)

prayed three times every day "as he had been accustomed to do"

(Daniel 6,10).

(THAT WAS DANIEL ONLY, DAVID MENTIONS IT IN THE PSALMS; 

BUT THERE IS NO VERSES THAT SAYS THIS WAS THE COMMON 

PRACTICE AMONG ALL ISRAELITES; THERE IS NO VERSES WHERE 

GOD COMMANDS IT - Keith Hunt)

A similar testimony has come to light in one of the famous Dead

Sea scrolls. In the Hymn Book of the Qumran community (first

century B.C. ), the author mentions the daily exercise of prayer

in the morning, about noon, and in the evening. In addition, he

speaks of three additional prayer times during the night. The

Apostles seem to have kept this tradition even after Pentecost,

for Peter and John are reported going into the temple "at the

ninth hour of prayer" (Acts 3:1).

(GOING INTO THE TEMPLE AT THAT HOUR DOES NOT 

AUTOMATICALLY TEACH THEY WERE FOLLOWING A THREE 

TIMES A DAY PRAYER RITUAL. WHAT THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY 

DID HAS NO MENTION IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. THERE IS NO 

COMMAND OF GOD TO PRAY THREE TIMES A DAY OR EX 

NUMBER OF TIMES DURING THE NIGHT - Keith Hunt)

The early Christians in the Roman Empire continued the ancient

practice in the form of saying the "Our Father" three times a

day, as the so-called Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache),

a book from the beginning of the second century, prescribed.

Soon, however, three more prayer times were added. Thus, at the

end of the second century, we find the following hours of daily

private prayer:

Midnight  (Vigilia: night watch)

Morning   (Matutinum: morning prayer)

Nine o'clock   (Tertia: prayer of the third hour)

Noon (Sexta: prayer of the sixth hour)

Three o'clock  (Nona: prayer of the ninth hour) 

Evening   (Lucernarium, from lucerna, lamp: the prayer at the

time the lamps were lit) 

(ALL THE TRADITIONS OF MEN - GOD GIVES NO INSTRUCTION 

IN HIS WORD HOW MANY TIMES A DAY YOU ARE TO DO FORMAL 

PRAYER - Keith Hunt)

In the Christian empire in the fourth century two of these

exercises began to be held in church. They consisted of readings

from the Bible and chanting of psalms and other prayers: the

Matutinum (our present Lauds) and the Lucernarium (our present

Vespers). Thus the Church took over in the form of a liturgical

service what up to then had merely been a private practice of the

faithful; 

(THE SO-CALLED FAITHFUL WERE THOSE OF THE ROMAN 

CHRISTIAN RELIGION, RITES AND TRADITIONS HAVING BEEN 

ADDED TO CHRISTIAN FAITH - Keith Hunt)

clergy and people, united in the house of God, performed these

prayers together according to rules established by the

ecclesiastical authorities. The faithful were not strictly

obliged to attend, but from ancient reports we know that they

thronged the churches in good numbers for these daily morning and

evening services.

(FOLLOWING THE TRADITIONS OF THE BABYLON CHURCH, 

AS SHE BECAME THE WHORE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION - 

Keith Hunt)

Saint Augustine reported that his mother (Saint Monica) most

faithfully attended the daily Matutinum and Lucernarium in her

church. A noble Roman lady from southern Gaul, a nun by the name

of Aetheria (Sylvia) who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about

395, vividly described these two services as they were held in

Jerusalem at the end of the fourth century in the Church of the

Holy Sepulchre (Anastasis), and how the many children present

spontaneously cried "Kyrie eleison" in answer to the deacon's

reading of commemorations."

THE DIVINE OFFICE  

From the beginnings of monastic life, the daily hours were kept

by the monks in common, the psalms and many other prayers 

being chanted or recited in alternating groups (choir). Thus the 

basis was laid for the liturgical performance of the Divine Office.

About the year 500 there appeared in the monasteries two

additional prayer hours: the Prime (first hour, six o'clock in

the morning) and the Compline (completa: finished, before

retiring at midnight).

For some centuries the Opus Divinum (Divine Work), as the Office

used to be called, remained almost exclusively a task of monks,

while the secular clergy continued to perform the two traditional

public services (Matutinum and Lucernarium) together with their

congregations in church. From the eighth century, however, the

recital of the whole Divine Office in common was also introduced

among the secular clergy, who had started to live a community

life in most places and were called Canonici (canons), from the

canonical rules they followed.

In the thirteenth century, when the secular clergy for the

greater part had ceased to live in community, the private

recitation of the Divine Office was enjoined as a daily duty on

each clergyman, starting with the order of the subdeaconate. 

This law is still in force. The private recital is not necessarily

bound to the official hours, but the whole Office must be

performed every day. In the monasteries the Office is still

chanted in common, as of old, and at appointed hours. Some

changes and reforms have been made in the breviary (Book of the

Divine Office) by various popes in the past centuries, with the

purpose of removing less appropriate additions of later times and

of adapting it to the conditions of priestly life in the modem

age.

THE LAY PSALTER  

During the seventh and eighth centuries the liturgical services

of the Matutinum and Lucernarium gradually disappeared. The

Matutinum was replaced by the introduction of daily Mass in the

morning, and the Lucernarium was dropped because the faithful,

especially in the northern countries, did not know Latin and were

unable to take part. There was, however, a great desire on the

part of the people to keep the official prayer hours with

appropriate private devotions of their own. This desire,

encouraged by the authorities of the Church, gave rise to a

wealth of horaria (hour books, "prymers," Stundenbucher), which

were in use all through the Middle Ages. They contained psalms,

selections from the liturgical texts, and many other prayers of

private origin.

As the original "hours" in the ancient Church had usually been

connected with particular commemorations of the mysteries of

Christ's life and especially of His Passion, these medieval hour

books also devoted each part of their daily reading to a certain

event of the Saviour's life and Passion. Great indulgences were

granted by the popes for this pious exercise of daily hours in

honor of the redemptive suffering of Christ. However, the books

could serve only people who mastered the art of reading, and they

were a minority in those days.

People who could not read, and among them especially the lay

brothers in the monasteries, substituted for the written texts a

certain number of familiar prayer formulas which they knew by

heart. Thus, for instance, one hundred and fifty Ave Marias were

substituted for the one hundred and fifty psalms, and the

mysteries of Christ's life (taken from ancient responsories) were

inserted in the Hail Marys. It was in this way that the rosary

gradually developed during the High Middle Ages. Saint Dominic

(1221) is credited with the spreading of this particular exercise

among the lay population of Italy.

At various times and in various centuries many such psalters were

in use among pious lay people. In some places the Stations of the

Cross were held within the frame of the ancient hour service.

Finally, in the nineteenth century, an ancient custom was

revived, of saying a short prayer every hour when the clock

strikes and of accompanying this prayer with the sign of the

cross in honor of the Lord's Passion. 

Protestant congregations kept the use of traditional hour books

(with ancient liturgical texts) alive for quite some time. During

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, however, both among

Catholics and Protestants, a new kind of prayer book, containing

instruction, meditation, litanies, prayers for "special

occasions" like confession, communion, morning, and evening,

gradually supplanted the psalters and hour books; thus the

ancient devotion of daily hours became lost and forgotten in the

minds of most modern Christians.

Of late the Liturgical Movement in all parts of the world has

endeavored to bring lay people back to the performance of "hours"

through daily recital (in the vernacular) of liturgical hours

from the Roman breviary. Whether this endeavor will be successful

or not, and whether the practice will spread among the majority

of the faithful, or merely remain a devotion of certain groups,

only the future can tell.

(DID YOU SEE HOW THINGS GRADUALLY DEVELOPED, 

EVEN INTO THE ROSARY THAT SOME CATHOLICS STILL 

USE TODAY. ALL THE ADDED TRADITIONS OF MEN DOWN 

THROUGH THE CENTURIES, SOME NOW NO LONGER 

PRACTICED, BUT IT SHOWS HOW MEN CAN AND WILL ADD 

TO THE WORD OF GOD, TO FORM UN-SCRIPTURAL 

TRADITIONS - Keith Hunt)

SIGNIFICANCE  

Through the daily prayer of the Divine Office and the daily

performance of the Holy Sacrifice, each weekday is sanctified and

raised to the status of a true religious festival. Thus there is

no "common" day in the whole Christian year, for the liturgical

worship of the Mystical Body turns even the humblest day into a

feast of great religious import. Although there was no Mass on

weekdays in the early Christian centuries, perhaps a similar

motivation (like the "newness of life" with the Risen Christ)

prompted the Church from the beginning to call each weekday 

not simply dies (day), but feria (feast); for the word feria

signified a religious feast among the ancient Romans. Some

scholars contend that the early Christians did not simply accept

the Roman meaning but used the word feria as a translation for

the Jewish "Sabbath" (Day of Rest). Whichever the explanation,

the significance remains the same; in the kingdom of Christ on

earth every day of the year is a feria (holyday), a spiritual

Sabbath.

(OF COURSE WE HAVE A SPIRITUAL FEAST WITH THE LORD 

EACH DAY OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES, BUT TO USE THAT 

SPIRITUALITY TO BORROW FROM THE PAGANS OR MAKE UP 

OUR OWN TRADITIONS DOES AS THE AUTHOR SAYS

ENDS IN "LITURGICAL WORSHIP OF THE MYSTICAL BODY TURNS.....

INTO A FEAST OF GREAT RELIGIOUS IMPORT." 

HENCE MAN-MADE TRADITIONS CAN ABOUND - Keith Hunt)

MEMORIAL OF THE PASSION

There is clear proof from the earliest centuries of the Christian

era that the second half of every week, from Wednesday to

Saturday, was devoted to a special commemoration of the Passion

of Christ. Just as Sunday was the weekly memorial day of the

Resurrection, so the preceding days quite naturally served to

recall the Lord's sufferings by which He accomplished our

redemption. In the first three centuries, however, it was not the

Eucharistic Sacrifice, but the practice of fasting and prayer

that expressed this commemoration.

FAST 

The Didache (Teaching), written at the beginning of the second

century, already mentioned Wednesday and Friday as weekly fast

days. The number of days was suggested by the ancient Jewish

custom of fasting two days each week (Monday and Thursday). 

(THE JEWS HAD THEIR TRADITIONS ALSO - SEE WHAT CHRIST 

THOUGHT OF THEM IN MARK 7 - Keith Hunt)

The Christian fast was put on Friday, as the day of Christ's

death, and on Wednesday (from the third century on) because Judas

made his contract of betrayal on that day (Luke 14:1,2,10,11).

(THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT THE DAY JESUS DIED ON - Keith Hunt)

Thus the historical events of the redemption relived by the

faithful every week formed a spiritual drama that comprised not

only the Passion itself but also the decisions and actions of

Christ's enemies that immediately led up to it.

This Christian weekly fast was called "half fast" (Semiieiunium )

because people were expected to fast only until three o'clock in

the afternoon. Another name for it was "Station" (statio:

standing), probably because the fast was concluded with prayer

(in the church) performed standing. In later centuries, when Mass

was usually celebrated on Station days, the word statio came to

mean the place of the celebration on any day. (See the "Stations"

in the Roman Missal.) 

The Station fast was accepted by newly converted nations and

became so widespread in many countries that in Ireland, for

instance, Thursday used to be called the "Day between the Fasts."

Even to this day the custom of voluntarily fasting or abstaining

from certain foods on Wednesday is still alive; its motivation,

however, has changed, for this pious practice is now usually held

in honor of Saint Joseph.

(WELL NEED I SAY IT?  MORE TRADITIONS OF MEN! Keith Hunt)

In the fourth century, Saturday was added in Rome as one of the

weekly fast days. This is explained as an extension of the Friday

fast. Pope Innocent I (417) motivated the Saturday fasting by the

thought that on that day Christ had rested, a victim of death, in

the tomb and that the Apostles had spent the day in sadness and

fasting. While this superimposed Saturday fast spread through the

whole Latin Church, the Orientals never accepted it and have kept

Saturdays free from any law of fasting. In the Western Church the

original practice of fasting three days a week was later

prescribed by law, but only for Ember weeks (apart from the

special regulations for Lenten fast). For the rest of the year

only Friday is still kept as a weekly day of prescribed

abstinence, though not of fasting.

(PART OF THE INTRODUCTION TO FAST ON SATURDAY WAS 

TO BE THE OPPOSITE OF THE JEWS, WHO CELEBRATED THE 

WEEKLY SABBATH FEAST. ROME WANTED TO REMOVE 

THEMSELVES FROM ANYTHING "JEWISH" - Keith Hunt)

PRAYER AND MASS  

On the weekly Station days the time of fasting (morning to early

afternoon) was also devoted to private prayer, as far as

possible. The author of "The Pastor of Herman," written at the

beginning of the second century, described his own observance:

     I sat on some hill, fasting and saying prayers of

     thanksgiving to God for all the things He had done for me,

     when I suddenly saw the Pastor sitting at my side. He said.

     "Why did you come here so early in the morning?" I answered:

     "Because I am keeping the stations, Sir." "What is a

     'station'?" he asked. "It means that I am fasting, Sir,"

     I said.

In many places the Station was originally concluded with a

liturgical service in church, consisting of readings and prayers.

Gradually, however, the Eucharistic Sacrifice began to be

celebrated. By the second half of the fourth century this was an

established custom in various parts of the Roman Empire (northern

Italy, Africa, Palestine, Syria, Cappadocia). In Rome, too, the

Mass seems to have been customary, at least on Wednesday, after

the fourth century. For a long time, though, no Mass was held on

Saturdays in the Latin Church, while the Eastern Churches

celebrated it every Saturday from the fourth century on.

(STILL MORE TRADITIONS OF MEN - Keith Hunt)

MODERN OBSERVANCE  

In medieval times the dramatic unity of this ancient observance

from Wednesday (the betrayal of Judas) to Sunday (the

Resurrection) was broken in favor of separate exercises in honor

of the Passion. Saturday, now the weekly "Day of Mary," lost its

memorial character of the Lord's rest in death. The conscious

observance of Sunday as the weekly memorial of Christ's

resurrection has also dwindled from the minds and hearts of most

Christians in the West. However, the redemption is still honored

by special weekly exercises, though in different setting and

manner, mostly on Fridays, with Holy Hour, Stations of the Cross,

ringing of bells at the "ninth hour," or various other forms of

private or public devotions in honor of the Passion.

At the end of the eighth century, Friday began to be observed

liturgically by various votive Masses, which priests were allowed

to use in honor of the Passion of Christ whenever no higher feast

occurred. Pope Pius V (1572), in his reform of the Roman Missal,

suppressed most of these votive Masses, retaining only two for

special use on Friday: the Mass of the Holy Cross and the Mass of

the Passion. Both these Mass texts are still listed among the

weekly votive Masses.

FOLKLORE  

The remembrance of the Lord's Passion by fasting, prayer, and

other pious exercises made Friday a sacred and serious day in the

minds of ancient and medieval Christians. Quite naturally it

became a practice to avoid worldly pursuits and gainful

enterprises as much as possible. Amusements and travel for

pleasure were shunned. Whoever disregarded these restrictions

imposed by popular piety was threatened with ill success and

misfortune, as a punishment for his irreverent attitude. Thus

originated our modern superstition of Friday, which still clings

to its ancient objective (business pursuits, travel, and

activities outside the home), being an "unlucky" day.

(WOW, READ THAT AGAIN! FRIDAY WAS SO HONORED WITH 

PRACTICALLY BEING A HOLY DAY - TALK ABOUT ADDING 

TRADITIONS TO THE WORD OF GOD - THIS IS A GREAT 

EXAMPLE - Keith Hunt)

OTHER WEEKLY COMMEMORATIONS

ORIGIN 

It was customary from the early centuries for priests to say

private Masses that did not constitute an official service for

the community. In the beginning this was done only for the

purpose of obtaining, through the Holy Sacrifice, God's mercy

upon the souls of departed faithful. From the fourth century on,

we also hear of private Masses celebrated for various reasons,

either for the intention of the priest himself or of individuals

and groups among the congregation. Because these Masses were

offered according to wish and request (votum), they were later

called votive Masses.

The Church of the Carolingian Empire not only accepted the

ancient Roman texts of votive Masses, but Alcuin (704) also wrote

a new collection of such texts, which he called Liber

Sacramentorum. In it there appeared for the first time certain

Mass texts for every day of the week. Thus the custom was started

of devoting individual weekdays to the commemoration of religious

mysteries and sacred persons by means of the liturgical Mass

texts. As time went on, the number of such votive Masses grew

enormously. Pope Pius V (1572) reduced them to nine (for the

whole week). Their number has since been increased to eleven.

These votive Masses are allowed to be said whenever the

respective weekday is "vacant," that is, when no other liturgical

celebration is prescribed by the rubrics. Their choice was

inspired mostly by great popular devotions of medieval times, and

has, in turn, preserved and deepened these devotions.

(NEED I SAY IT..... TRADITIONS, MAKE UP YOUR OWN 

CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS YOU GO - Keith Hunt)

HOLY TRINITY  

At the beginning of the second millennium Sunday came to be

considered in a special way as the "Day of the Holy Trinity," not

only in liturgical observance (through the preface of the Trinity

and the Trinitarian "Symbolum of Saint Athanasius" in the Divine

Office), but also in popular piety. Following the trend of this

devotion, the custom originated of honoring each Divine Person

separately on particular weekdays. Sunday was kept mainly as the

"Day of the Father," while Monday became the "Day of the Son,"

with a votive Mass in honor of the Divine Wisdom (the second

Person of the Trinity). Tuesday, also with a special Mass text,

was celebrated as the "Day of the Holy Ghost."

This manner of honoring each Divine Person by a separate

liturgical commemoration was declared inappropriate by many

theologians. The popes, too, did not formally approve it.

(YA, EVEN SOME OF THE POPES KNEW BETTER FOR A WHILE, 

ADDING TO GOD'S WORD, MAKING UP YOUR RELIGION AS 

YOU SAW FIT - Keith Hunt)

Finally, Pius V deleted the practice and provided only a votive

Mass in honor of the Holy Trinity, assigning it to Monday (where

it is still listed in the Missal). The Mass of the Holy Spirit he

retained (for Thursday) because it emphasizes not so much a

separate worship of the Third Divine Person but of His indwelling

in the Mystical Body. (The Mass prayers are not addressed to the

Holy Ghost, but to the Father.) 

(WELL OF COURSE BY THIS TIME THE ROMAN CHURCH HAD 

ADOPTED AND ACCEPTED THE GODHEAD AS A TRINITY - 

THE HOLY SPIRIT BEING A SEPARATE PERSON FROM THE 

FATHER AND SON, WHICH IS A FALSE TEACHING, ALL 

EXPOUNDED FOR YOU ON MY WEBSITE - Keith Hunt)

HOLY SOULS  

In the early Middle Ages the common people and many theologians

held the opinion that the souls in purgatory enjoyed a relief

from their painful punishment every week from Saturday night

until Monday morning, in honor of the Lord's Days.

(AH NOW WE SEE "PURGATORY" HAD ALREADY BECOME 

ROME'S TEACHING - Keith Hunt)

It was not until Saint Thomas Aquinas (1274) treated the problem

in his masterful way, and disproved such opinions, that this

claim was finally abandoned. While it lasted, however, popular

piety inclined to help the holy souls in a special manner on

Monday, since they were thought to return then from joy to

suffering and, therefore, to need consolation and assistance more

than at any other time. Without approving the popular belief, 

the Church facilitated this practice of prayer for the holy souls;

hence the ancient rule that priests had to add a liturgical

oration or the departed ones in their Masses on all "vacant"

Mondays. This regulation was observed for many centuries, 

until the provisional reform of the rubrics (1955) under Pius XII

discontinued it. The same reform, however, makes it possible now

for priests to say Requiem Masses oftener than before.

(PURGATORY ITSELF HAS NEVER BEEN DISCLAIMED BY 

THE ROMAN CHURCH - Keith Hunt)

ANGELS 

In medieval times another votive Mass was provided for Monday:

that of the Holy Angels. Some writers claim that Monday was

chosen because the angels were the first fruit of divine

creation, and thus should be venerated at the beginning of the

week. The actual reason, though, seems to be that the angels were

considered to be the particular consolers and companions of the

holy souls, and thus they were especially invoked and venerated

on the "Day of Souls" (Monday). The reform of the Missal under

Pius V changed the assignment of this votive Mass from Monday to

Tuesday, where it has remained up to now.

(HUMMMM....THINK PAUL TALKED ABOUT SOME WHO 

WORSHIPPED ANGELS....COL.2 THE CONTEXT NOT IN ANY 

GOOD LIGHT AT ALL - Keith Hunt)

APOSTLES  

Of all the votive Masses used in the Middle Ages to honor various

saints, Pius V retained only two and assigned them to Wednesday:

the Mass of Peter and Paul, and the Mass of the Apostles.

In the lore of the Germanic nations many traits that in pagan

times had been ascribed to the god Woden (such as guardian of

Heaven, protector of the harvest, and weather maker) were in

Christian times transferred to Saint Peter in the form of popular

legends. Thus, Peter acquired a particular connection with

"Woden's Day," on which he was especially invoked and venerated

in past centuries. This popular veneration seems to explain the

choice of Wednesday for the votive Mass of Saints Peter and Paul

and of the other Apostles.

(ALL CONNECTED WITH PAGANISM YOU WILL SEE, RIGHT, 

YES RIGHT - Keith Hunt)

SAINT JOSEPH  

When the devotion to Saint Joseph spread in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, Wednesday became associated with this

great saint. The reason for the choice seems to be twofold.

First, Wednesday was the only weekday dedicated by the Church (in

the votive Masses) to saints other than the Blessed Virgin.

Therefore, Saint Joseph obviously "belonged" on Wednesday. 

Second, in the popular mind ancient Station days were considered

of higher distinction and rank than the other weekdays. This

distinction was not based on any later practice or ruling of the

Church, but on the liturgical tradition that from early times had

actually singled out those three days for special and solemn

observance. Now, since Saturday was already devoted to the

Blessed Virgin, and Friday to the Passion of Christ, the only day

left on which to honor Saint Joseph in a special way was

Wednesday.

Whatever the reason, the custom was approved and confirmed by the

Church. Pope Pius X (1914), in 1913, put the Feast of the

Solemnity of Saint Joseph (now abrogated) on the third Wednesday

after Easter, and also assigned a Mass text in honor of the saint

for Wednesday among the weekly votive Masses of the Roman Missal.

Pope Benedict XV, in 1921, granted special indulgences to all

faithful who perform some devout exercise in honor of Saint

Joseph on the first Wednesday of a month.

(STILL MAN MADE CHRISTIAN RELIGION COMING AND GOING, 

STANDING AND MOVING - AS THE HUMAN MIND DECREED - 

Keith Hunt)

BLESSED SACRAMENT  

The weekly memory of the Last Supper, with its institution of the

Holy Eucharist, prompted the faithful to accord special honors

and veneration to the Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays. This

custom, originating in the early centuries of the second

millennium, was accepted and approved in the reform of Pius V,

who inserted the Mass of the Most Blessed Sacrament among the

weekly votive Masses. In many places it was customary (and still

is today in sections of central Europe) to celebrate this votive

Mass whenever possible as a High Mass, which was attended by a

large number of people (at least one member from every family of

the parish). The practice of holding a Holy Hour in honor of the

Lord's agony on Thursday nights has spread of late in many

countries.

Since 1937 a papal indult allows the celebration of a solemn

votive Mass of "Christ, the eternal High Priest" on every first

Thursday of the month. Its text was also put among the weekly

votive Masses by Pius XI.

(WELL WE MAY AS WELL KEEP GOING WITH ADDITIONS 

AND ADOPTIONS AND ADAPTIONS - SAID WITH TONGUE 

IN CHEEK - Keith Hunt)

SACRED HEART 

As a result of the revelations granted to Saint Margaret Mary

Alacoque (1690), the practice developed from the seventeenth

century on of devoting the first Friday of every month in a

special way to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since 1889 a Roman

indult has given this custom a liturgical expression through the

"Mass of the Sacred Heart" which, under certain conditions, may

be celebrated as a solemn votive Mass. Other liturgical

devotions, too, have been provided for "First Friday"; they may

be held in churches with the approval of the bishop and according

to his regulations.

Through the pious exercises of the "Nine Fridays" and the "First

Fridays," the custom grew in many places of performing on every

Friday some devotion in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

partly in church (by attendance at Mass, Communion, evening

devotions), partly at home (by family prayer, burning of vigil

lights before the Sacred Heart statue).

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  

In the ninth century originated the popular veneration of Mary on

Saturdays. This practice appears to have grown out of the ancient

weekly memorial of Christ's Passion. The books of that time

motivate it by the thought that while the Lord's body rested in

death Mary alone did not doubt or despair, but firmly adhered to

the faith in her Divine Son. She was thus believed to deserve

more devotion and honor on Saturday than on other weekdays. The

authorities of the Church not only provided a votive Mass (which

now has five different texts according to the seasons of the

ecclesiastical year), but also a special Office in honor of Mary,

to be recited on "free" Saturdays (Officium sanctae Mariae in

Sabbato).

....................

NOW THAT IS ALL QUITE THE TRADITIONS OF MEN ADDED 

TO THE WORD OF GOD. YOU SEE WHY THE ROMAN CHURCH 

IS CALLED IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION "BABYLON THE 

GREAT" AND "THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS" THE ONE WHO 

HAS MADE ALL NATIONS DRUNK ON THE WINE OF HER 

SPIRITUAL FORNICATION.

WE ARE NOT DONE, THERE IS MUCH MUCH MORE TO YET COME.

To be continued