Friends in Christ,
Welcome
to our weekly Sunday update. The liturgy for this Sunday (February 16,
2024), the first in the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima, features the
parable of the laborers in the vineyard. As we begin to prepare for the
season of fasting and penance that will culminate in our remembrance of
His passion and death, Jesus tells us that it is never too late to take
up our cross and follow Him. Even those who come late will be rewarded
in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Septuagesima Sunday is so-named because it falls within the seventy days prior to Easter. Traditionally, it initiates a period of voluntary prayer, penance and solemn reflection leading to the more rigorous weeks of self-denial, penance and good works during Lent. Septuagesima Sunday will be followed during the next two weeks by Sexagesima (“the sixtieth”) and then Quinquagesima (“the fiftieth”), the last Sunday before Lent.
As
it is meant to be a period of preparation for the penitential forty
days preceding Easter, the liturgy during these weeks takes on added
solemnity, omitting the alleluias and the Gloria.
Calendar of Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, February 16 – Septuagesima Sunday (II)
Monday, February 17 – Feria (IV)
Tuesday, February 18 – Feria (IV) – St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr (IV)
Wednesday, February 19 – Feria (IV)
Thursday, February 20 – Feria (IV)
Friday, February 21 – Feria (IV)
Saturday, February 22 – The Chair of St. Peter, Apostle (II)
Septuagesima Sunday
The
links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the
Proper Prayers for Septuagesima Sunday with English or Spanish
translation, followed by commentary by Dr. Michael P. Foley.
Latin Mass Schedule: Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (February 16, 2025)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
11:30 a.m., Saint Thomas Aquinas
12:30 p.m., Saint Ann
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
8:30 a.m., Saint John the Baptist (Tryon)
9:00 a.m., Our Lady of the Angels (Marion)
1:00 p.m., Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock)
1:30 p.m., Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro)
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
12:00 p.m., Prince of Peace (Taylors SC)
1:00 p.m., Our Lady of the Lake (Chapin SC)
Note: Travelers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the regular schedule of Sunday Mass times.
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays (February 17-February 22)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Saint Ann – Wednesday, 6:00 p.m.
Saint Thomas Aquinas – Thursday, 7:00 p.m.
Saint Ann – Friday, 7:00 a.m.
Saint Ann - 4th Saturday Respect Life Mass, 8:00 a.m. (followed by prayers at the abortion facility and/or a Holy Hour of Reparation in the church)
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Our Lady of the Mountains (Highlands) – Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.
Saint John the Baptist (Tryon) – Friday, 8:30 a.m.
Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock) – Friday, 9:30 a.m.
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Monday-Friday, 12:00 p.m.
Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Saturday 8:00 a.m.
Note: Travelers are advised to contact parish offices to confirm weekday and Saturday Mass times, since local schedules are sometimes subject to change without notice, especially on or around holidays, holy days of obligation and other special feast days.
Announcements
Third Sunday Coffee and Doughnuts at Saint Ann – Saint Ann Parish will be offering coffee and doughnuts after all Masses this Sunday, including the 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass.
Fr. Ripperger to Offer Lenten Mission at Saint Thomas Aquinas (March 7-8) – Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish is blessed to welcome back Fr. Chad Ripperger, SMD, to conduct its Lenten Parish Mission on Friday, March 7th, and Saturday, March 8th, at 7:00 p.m. each night. Fr. Ripperger is a former member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter who became an exorcist and founded the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother (the Doloran Fathers). Please note: The mission will be oriented to adults, and will not be appropriate for young children. Registration is required. The registration form is available at the following location: Lenten Mission Registration.
Traditional Carmelite Lenten Enrollment
Lent will commence in less than three weeks on Ash Wednesday on March 5. To prepare, we share a wonderful Lenten offering by the Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Pennsylvania and Colorado. Our readers are invited to enroll those in need this Lent in order to benefit from 40 Masses and 40 days of prayer and penance by the Hermits. Click on Lenten Enrollment at the link provided below. Enrollment will remain open until Tuesday, March 4, the last day before the beginning of Lent.
The Hermits will be offering the following for the benefit of those enrolled:
40 Traditional Latin Masses celebrated according to the Carmelite Rite;
40 days of prayer according to the Divine Office, as well as other daily prayers, and
40 days of fasting and penance.
These benefits may be secured for those most in need, whether living or deceased. There is no charge for enrollment, but the Discalced Hermits survive entirely on alms received from the laity to support their apostolate. Please remember the Hermits in your almsgiving now and during the Season of Lent, recalling the words of Saint Lawrence Justinian regarding the benefits of the Mass:
No human tongue can enumerate the favors that trace back to the Sacrifice of the Mass. The sinner is reconciled with God; the just man becomes more upright; sins are wiped away; vices are uprooted; virtue and merit increase; and the devil’s schemes are frustrated.
To learn more see this inspiring video. To enroll in the Lenten Enrollment, click here.
*NEW* Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary – Fr. Chad Ripperger has composed an updated prayer for our nation and government, Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which may be found at the end of this update or downloaded here.
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
St. James (Concord) – Monday, 10-10:30 a.m. (in the cry room)
St. Mark – Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.
St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesday, 6:00 a.m.
St. Ann – Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. (following 7:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)
St. Michael the Archangel (Gastonia) – Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. (following 8:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)
St. Vincent de Paul – Tuesday, 8:40 a.m.
Holy Spirit (Denver) – Tuesday, 10-11:00 a.m. (following the 9:15 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)
St. John the Baptist (Tryon) - First Saturday, 9:30 a.m. (after 8:30 a.m Latin Mass)
Note: Days and times may be subject to change due to holidays.
“Jesus, Your ineffable image is the star which guides my steps. Ah, You know, Your sweet Face is for me Heaven on earth” (from Canticle to the Holy Face by Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, the 19th century Discalced Carmelite nun who took the name in religion, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face).
Latin Mass and Liturgical News
Ave Regina Caelorum by Greg DiPippo, New Liturgical Movement (February 3, 2025). [Ave Regina Caelorum]
The In spiritu humilitatis by Dr. Michael P. Foley, New Liturgical Movement (February 7, 2025). [The In spiritu humilitatis]
Pope pays tribute to Dom Guéranger, a pioneer of modern liturgical revival, by Lisa Zengarini, Vatican News Service (January 30, 2025). [Pope pays tribute to Dom Guéranger]
The Mass of the Flight into Egypt by Fr. William Rock, FSSP, The Missive (February 17, 2023). [The Mass of the Flight into Egypt]
Meménto: Newsletter for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, Published by the North American Province of the FSSP (Septuagesima & Lent February 2025 Newsletter). [Meménto]
Cum Petro: Newsletter for the Confraternity of Saint Peter, Published by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (Christmas-January 2025 Newsletter). [Cum Petro]
Our Lady of Martyrs in New York officially declared a national shrine, by Tessa Gervasini, Catholic News Agency (February 4, 2025). [Our Lady of Martyrs]
‘Sanctified Sound’: The Return of Bell-Tower Bells Ringing at Eucharistic Consecration by Joseph Pronechen, National Catholic Register (February 5, 2025). [Sanctified Sound]
Saints and Special Observances
Saint Robert Southwell, S.J. is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales condemned for their Catholic faith and executed by the government of England between 1535 and 1679. Canonized by Pope Saint Paul VI in 1970, the Forty Martyrs are memorialized on October 25th, the date of their canonization, in the revised (post-1962) liturgical calendar. The group includes 31 priests apprehended for offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in Latin, ten of whom were members of the Society of Jesus.
Pope Saint John Paul II subsequently beatified another 86 victims of the English persecution on November 22, 1987. Sixty-six members of this second group of martyrs were priests condemned for saying Mass in Latin. Another 160 martyrs had been beatified or canonized prior to 1970, making a total of no less than 286 priests, religious and lay men and women executed for the crime of Catholicism during nearly a century and a half of the English persecution.
Robert Southwell was among the first handful of Jesuits sent back from Europe to serve as secret missionaries to the Catholics in England. Fr. Edmund Campion, a noted Oxford scholar prior to his conversion to Catholicism, had reentered the country in June of 1580 with Fr. Robert Parsons, who served as superior of the Jesuit Mission. Captured in July of the following year, Fr. Campion was imprisoned in the Tower and tortured on the rack over the ensuing four months before being tried and condemned and finally executed on December 1, 1581.
Having volunteered for the Mission, Fr. Southwell returned to England in 1586 to celebrate Mass and administer the other sacraments mostly in and around London. He managed to evade the authorities for six years before being captured on June 26, 1592. Imprisoned and tortured for two-and-a-half years, he was finally brought to trial in February of 1595 and convicted of treason under the 1585 Act Against Jesuits and Seminarists. Condemned on the 20th of February to be hanged, drawn and quartered, he was executed at Tyburn on February 21, 1595.
Born in 1561 at Horsham St. Faith’s in Norfolk, the future saint was the youngest son of Richard Southwell and his wife, Bridget, the daughter of Sir Roger Copley. Southwell’s father was the illegitimate son of Sir Richard Southwell, a political actor of considerable influence. Sir Richard had served Henry VIII as commissioner for the closure of the monasteries, overseeing the seizure of property held by the religious orders, after the king broke with the pope and declared himself to be the head of the Church in England. Raised in the Catholic faith, Robert was sent to the Jesuit school at Douai in 1576 but went to Paris the following year when political unrest led to fighting in the Low Countries. After returning briefly to Douai, he made his way to Rome where he was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate on October 17, 1578, and took vows two years later. Having completed his studies for the priesthood, he was ordained and appointed prefect of studies at the English College, serving in that capacity until he left on the English Mission.
While living the covert life of an outlawed Catholic priest for six years, Southwell wrote both poetry and prose and achieved considerable popularity as a poet in spite of his enforced anonymity. Ben Jonson said he would have been content to destroy many of his own verses if he could have written Southwell’s short poem, “The Burning Babe,” instead. Southwell’s longest poem, “St. Peter’s Complaint,” was also greatly admired. According to Joseph Pearce, “It is probable that the martyr and poet, Robert Southwell, dedicated a volume of his religious poems to Shakespeare and it is possible that this influenced The Rape of Lucrece” (The Quest for Shakespeare, p.171). Shakespeare’s epic poem has been interpreted as a coded critique of Elizabeth’s totalitarian regime.
Initially issued in manuscript or printed on a secret press, Southwell’s poetry was widely read and admired by both Catholics and Protestants. It is believed the press was maintained by the wife of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, whose household Southwell served as private chaplain. His first full-length prose work, An Epistle of Comfort, was addressed to the earl who was imprisoned for his faith in the Tower for ten years before dying of dysentery in 1595. Southwell’s other prose works, written to encourage the persecuted Catholics of England, included Short Rules of a Good Life, his Epistle unto His Father, his Letter to Sir Robert Cecil, The Triumphs over Death, and Mary Magdalen’s Tears, among others.
Southwell was finally betrayed by the daughter of a man whose house he had visited in order to say Mass. After being tortured and assaulted by the queen’s favorite priest-hunter, the sadistic Richard Topcliffe, the girl gave up the priest. Taken into custody, Southwell was held for several days in Topcliffe’s house where he was tortured in an unsuccessful attempt to extort information about other Catholics. Transferred to the Gatehouse at Westminster, he survived the abominable conditions of that prison until he was transported to the Tower, where he continued to write while awaiting trial.
Subjected to torture on 13 separate occasions, Fr. Southwell steadfastly refused to provide any information regarding the Catholic population in England. On the scaffold, he denied ever having had any treasonous intent, insisting that he had only returned to England to meet the spiritual needs of the country’s Catholics. His personal feast day is commemorated on February 21st, the date of his execution at Tyburn.
Closing Commentary
In closing, we share two commentaries extracted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger for “Septuagesima Sunday.”, “The History of Septuagesima” followed by an explanation of why the uttering of Alleluia is suspended on the eve of Septuagesima Sunday. A link to the full text of the great liturgist’s commentary follows the extract.
The History of Septuagesima
The Season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of the Liturgical Year, and is itself divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: the first is called Septuagesima; the second, Sexagesima; the third, Quinquagesima.
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of the Church, is called Quadragesima, — that is, Forty, — because the great Feast of Easter is prepared for by the holy exercises of Forty Days. The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tell us of the same great Solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which the Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion.
Now, the Feast of Easter must be prepared for by a forty-days’ recollectedness and penance. Those forty-days are one of the principal Seasons of the Liturgical Year, and one of the most powerful means employed by the Church for exciting in the hearts of her children the spirit of their Christian Vocation. It is of the utmost importance, that such a Season of grace should produce its work in our souls, — the renovation of the whole spiritual life.
The Church, therefore, has instituted a preparation for the holy time of Lent. She gives us the three weeks of Septuagesima, during which she withdraws us, as much as may be, from the noisy distractions of the world, in order that our hearts may be the more readily impressed by the solemn warning she is to give us, at the commencement of Lent, by marking our foreheads with ashes. [History of Septuagesima]
The Burying of the Alleluia
Our holy mother the Church knows how necessary it is for her to rouse our hearts from their lethargy, and give them an active tendency towards the things of God. On this day, the eve of Septuagesima, she uses a powerful means for infusing her own spirit into the minds of her children. She takes the song of heaven away from us: she forbids our further uttering that Alleluia, which is so dear to us, as giving us a fellowship with the choirs of angels, who are forever repeating it How is it that we poor mortals, sinners, and exiles on earth, have dared to become so familiar with this hymn of a better land? It is true, our Emmanuel, who established peace between God and men, brought it us from heaven on the glad night of His Birth; and we have had the courage to repeat it after the angels, and shall chant it with renewed enthusiasm when we reach our Easter. But to sing the Alleluia worthily, we must have our hearts set on the country whence it came. It is not a mere word, nor a profane unmeaning melody; it is the song that recalls the land we are banished from, it is the sweet sigh of the soul longing to be at home. [Saturday Before Septuagesima Sunday]