Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (August 18, 2024) is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel reading for last Sunday featured the Parable of the Good Samaritan who came to the aid of a traveler badly beaten by robbers. Two members of the Jewish religious hierarchy, a priest and a Levite, had passed him by before the compassionate Samaritan came to his rescue. The Gospel for this Sunday tells of an actual Samaritan who is himself a victim: one of ten lepers who cry out to Our Lord for mercy as He is making His way to Jerusalem. Jesus heals them all and tells them to go show themselves to the priests; but only the one Samaritan returns to glorify God and give thanks. Jesus says to the man, “Were not ten made clean? and where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger. And he said to him: Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole” (Luke 17:17-19). Afterwards, Jesus continued His journey to Jerusalem, knowing that there He would be branded a stranger – a Galilean foreigner – and condemned as an undesirable alien.
Calendar of Saints and Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962 and the Liturgical Calendar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, August 18 – Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II)
Monday, August 19 – St. John Eudes, Confessor (III)
Tuesday, August 20 – St. Bernard, Abbott and Doctor (III)
Wednesday, August 21 – St. Jane Frances de Chantal (III)
Thursday, August 22 – Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (II) [SS. Timothy, Hippolytus and Symporianus, Martyrs]
Friday, August 23 – Philip Benizi, Confessor (III) [St. Thecla, Virgin and Martyr]
Saturday, August 24 – St. Bartholomew, Apostle
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a commentary on the liturgy by Msgr. Patrick Boylan (1879-1974). We also offer a link to a New Liturgical Movement article by Dr. Michael P. Foley entitled “The Theological Virtues and The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost.”
Latin Mass Schedule: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (August 18, 2024)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses (normal weekday schedule resumes Monday August 19)
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.
Mary Days Talks (August 15-22)
Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish's annual week-long Mary Days talks on the Blessed Virgin Mary is now underway and will conclude with this Thursday's Latin Mass (Feast of the Immaculate Heart, August 22nd) at 7 p.m. The Mass will feature a Marian reflection by a visiting priest. Please see the online flyer linked here: [Mary Days].
Latin Mass Class in Taylors, SC (August 24)
In this weekend's Prince of Peace parish bulletin (Taylors SC), it was announced that the pastor, Fr. Christopher Smith, will be hosting a Latin Mass class Saturday August 24 at Prince of Peace parish in Taylors, SC (after 8:00 a.m. Latin Mass): Fr.
Smith is hosting a Latin Mass Class on Saturday, 24 August from 9-11a
in Croghan Hall. In this two-hour lecture on the Latin Mass, Fr.
Christopher Smith will explore the historical significance, different
forms, and liturgical practices of the Latin Mass, emphasizing its role
in contemporary worship and youth engagement. Participants will learn
about the various types of Masses, the role of the faithful, practical
use of a hand missal, and the importance of Latin in the liturgy.
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
“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
Saints and Special Observances
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbott and Doctor of the Church, was born in Fontaines, France, in the year 1090, the third of seven children – all but one boys – brought into the world by well-to-do parents who belonged to the upper rank of French nobility. His father and mother, Tescelin de Fontaine and Alèthe de Montbard, were devout Catholics who sent him at the age of nine to be educated by the secular canons of Saint-Vorles in Châtillon-sur-Seine. He learned how to think rationally and speak convincingly by studying rhetoric, dialectics and grammar, as well as poetry and literature. His course of study also included Scripture and theology, subjects in which he excelled because of his particular interest in them.
Deeply devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bernard was moved by the death of his mother in his twentieth year to discern a religious vocation. His decision to enter the Abbey of Notre Dame at Cîteaux was initially opposed by his family; but when he went in 1113, all of his brothers except the youngest followed, along with another 30 young men of noble birth. Even his youngest brother made his way to Cîteaux eventually, and the lone daughter in the Fontaine family became a Benedictine nun.
The Abbey of Notre Dame had been established in 1098 by a group of Benedictine monks determined to restore strict observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. They became the Order of Cistercians, a name derived from the location of the order’s origin in Cîteaux. They came to be called the White Monks because of the white robes they wore to distinguish them from the Benedictines who dressed in black. When Bernard and his brothers, and their noble companions, arrived at the abbey, they fell on their faces before the front gate, humbly beseeching Abbott Stephen Harding to let them enter. He was only too happy to do so.
During his 25-year tenure as abbott. Stephen Harding’s inspirational leadership helped to bring about tremendous growth in the ranks of the Cistercian order. Many new monasteries were established, including one at a place called Clairvaux for which Bernard was named founding abbott in 1115, only two years after taking the habit. Noted for his holiness and commitment to monastic reform, Bernard wrote prolifically throughout his years in religion, preparing 300 sermons for delivery to the monks entrusted to his care and producing more than 500 letters in connection with the many activities he undertook. He was responsible for the establishment of 68 new monasteries located throughout western Europe, provided frequent service to popes and bishops who sought his assistance, and sustained a vigorous defense of the Faith against the threat of heretical movements.
When Pope Honorius II convoked the Council of Troyes in 1128, Bernard was elected to serve as secretary. In the course of the Council, the Cistercian monk drafted the Rule of the Knights Templar that was to serve as the ideal expression of Christian nobility. When the Pope died two years later, schism resulted from the selection of two successors, Innocent II and Anacletus II. Driven from Rome by his rival’s supporters, Innocent II was forced to seek refuge in France where King Louis VI convened a meeting of French bishops to settle the matter; the bishops turned it over to Bernard who decided in favor of Innocent II. He went on to spend almost a decade conducting the diplomacy necessary to win final acceptance of his decision. It came in 1139 at the Second Council of the Lateran which formally condemned the remaining adherents of the Antipope Anacletus II.
A visit to Clairvaux by Malachy, the Primate of All Ireland, resulted in a close personal friendship between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Cistercian Abbott. Malachy wanted to join the Order of Cistercians, but his request was denied by the Pope. The Irish bishop passed away at Clairvaux in 1148. He is perhaps best-known today as the purported author of the Prophecy of Popes, a document of unknown provenance that surfaced in 1590. The document is essentially a list of 112 future popes, each identified not by name but by a descriptive phrase, based on visions Saint Malachy is said to have experienced. The last Pope listed is called “Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people.” Saint Bernard, who documented many of Malachy’s miracles, made no mention of The Prophecy of Popes.
Bernard composed a series of 86 sermons on the Song of Songs and preached a famous sermon at Vézelay in 1146 in support of the Second Crusade. Hymns he wrote include, among others, the enduring classic, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded (Surrounded).” His numerous literary works include On Grace and Free Choice, On Loving God, In Praise of the New Knighthood, and The Life and Death of Saint Malachy, Bishop of Ireland. There is much more that could be said of this amazing monk who exerted a powerful influence on monastic life and on the world at large during the 12th century. His intense love of Jesus Christ, and his devotion to the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, are both evident in the classic works of theology and Mariology which he composed. Writing in the 15th century, Dante Alighieri made Saint Bernard the final guide in the poet’s epic journey, leading him in the final canto of The Divine Comedy to that Light that shines in the highest Heaven.
Bernard was signaling—he smiled—to me
to turn my eyes on high; but I, already
was doing what he wanted me to do,
because my sight, becoming pure, was able
to penetrate the ray of Light more deeply—
that Light, sublime, which in Itself is true.
Bernard died on August 20, 1153, and was buried in the Abbey at Clairvaux that had been his monastic home for 40 years. His remains were transferred to Troyes Cathedral after the Abbey was destroyed by the revolutionary regime in 1792. Canonized by Pope Alexander III on January 18, 1174, Bernard was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830. On the 800th anniversary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical in his honor entitled Doctor Mellifluus (link).
The feast day of St. Bernard, Abbott and Doctor of the Church, is celebrated on the 20th day of August.
Closing Commentary
In closing, we offer commentary on the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, followed by a link to the full text.
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The dominical series—which, formerly, counted from the feast of Saint Peter, or of the Apostles—never went beyond this Sunday. The feast of Saint Laurence gave its name to those which follow; through that name began with even the ninth Sunday, for the years when Easter was nearest the Spring equinox. When, on the contrary, that Solemnity was kept at its almost latest date, the weeks began from today be counted as the Weeks of the seventh month (September).
The Ember-Days of the Autumn quarter sometimes occur even this week, while, other years, they may be as late as the eighteenth. We will speak of them, when we come to the seventeenth Sunday, for it is in the week following that, that the Roman Missal inserts them.
In the Western Church, the thirteenth Sunday takes its name from the Gospel of the ten lepers, which is read in the Mass: the Greeks, who count it as the thirteenth of Saint Matthew, read on it the parable of the vineyard, whose laborers, though called at different hours of the day, all receive the same pay.
Mass.—Now that she is in possession of the promises so long waited for by the world,—the Church loves to repeat the words wherewith the just men of the old law used to express their sentiments. Those just men were living during the gloomy period, when the human race was seated in the shadow of death. We are under incomparably happier circumstances; we are blessed with graces in abundance; Eternal Wisdom has spared us the trials our forefathers had to contend with, by giving us to live in the period which has been enriched by all the mysteries of salvation being fulfilled. There is a danger, however, and our Mother the Church does her utmost to avert us from falling into it; it is the danger of forgetting all these blessings of ours. Ingratitude is the necessary outcome of forgetfulness, and today’s Gospel justly condemns it. On this account, the Epistle, and here our Introit, remind us of the time when man had nothing to cheer him but hope: a promise had indeed been made to him, of a sublime covenant which was, at some distant future, to be realized; but meanwhile he was very poor, was a prey to the wiles of Satan, is cause was to be tried by divine justice, and yet he prayed for loving mercy.
