Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (October 6, 2024) is the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, also celebrated as the External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary, the feast itself falling on October 7th. Pope Pius V originally called for the celebration, as Our Lady of Victory, to commemorate the Christian victory at the naval Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, subsequently designated the first Sunday in October as the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. On the day of the Battle of Lepanto, Pope Pius had called on the people of Rome to pray the Rosary while processing through the streets of the city. The popular belief was that the intercession of Our Lady had enabled the forces assembled by the Christian princes of Europe to turn back the Muslim invasion of the West. October is the month of the Rosary and one of two months especially dedicated to Mary. St. Dominic received the Rosary beads and prayers to be prayed in a vision of the Blessed Virgin he experienced in 1214. He is depicted on the left in Caravaggio’s painting (above); St. Peter Martyr is on the right.
Calendar of Saints and Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962 or on the liturgical calendar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, October 6 – Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (II); (USA) External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary (II)
Monday, October 7 – Our Lady of the Rosary (II)
Tuesday, October 8 – St. Bridget of Sweden, Widow (III); Commemoration of St. Mark, Pope and Confessor, and St. Sergius Bacchus, Martyr, Ss. Marcellus and Apuleius, Martyrs
Wednesday, October 9 – St. John Leonardi, Confessor (III); Commemoration of Ss. Denis, Bishop of Paris, Rusticus and Eleutherius, Martyrs
Thursday, October 10 – St. Francis Borgia SJ, Confessor (III)
Friday, October 11 – Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary (II) (patronal feast day of the diocese of Charlotte, in the 1962 calendar)
Saturday, October 12 – Feria (532nd anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World)
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for both the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost and the External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary with either English or Spanish translation. In addition, we provide a link to “A Brief Reflection on the Latin Titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” a New Liturgical Movement article in which Dr. Michael P. Foley shifts his usual focus from the orations found in the traditional Roman Missal to explore the meaning of Our Lady of the Rosary and other Marian titles.
Latin Mass Schedule: Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary
(October 6, 2024)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: As the normal schedule of Masses at numerous churches in both the Diocese of Charlotte and the Diocese of Charleston was affected by the widespread damage resulting from Hurricane Helene, readers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the regular schedule of Mass times this week.
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses (see Announcements below)
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: As the regular schedule of weekday Masses at some of the churches listed above may have been affected by the widespread damage resulting from Hurricane Helene, readers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in Mass times this week..
Announcements
**No daily Latin Masses this week at Saint Ann or Saint Thomas Aquinas – Although the diocesan priests' retreat has been canceled due to the storm's impact in the mountains, some priests will be taking their own – well deserved – retreats this week. As such, there will not be daily Latin Masses this week at either Saint Ann or Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Ann will still have a Holy Hour Wednesday from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Masses will resume next Sunday as normal.
Church
of the Epiphany in Blowing Rock intends to have its daily Latin Mass
this Friday, however. At publication time we have not heard if other
Latin Mass parishes in the diocese of Charlotte will have any schedule
changes. Travelers may wish to check the parish website for any changes.
Let us pray for our priests this week.
Disaster Relief – Catholic Charities is requesting donations to support disaster relief efforts in western North Carolina in the wake of the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The following website has been established to facilitate the donation of funds to help survivors recover from the catastrophic flooding caused by the storm: Donate to Disaster Relief for Western North Carolina. Additionally, a second collection will occur at parishes this weekend for hurricane relief, inviting the faithful to support relief efforts.
We also share an interview, published by Sensus Fidelium, with a local parishioner who is organizing a local disaster relief effort to western North Carolina. To watch or learn how to support them click on this link.
Let us continue to pray and support those tragically impacted by the recent storm.
STA First Sunday Food and Fellowship
– The Latin Mass Community at Saint Thomas Aquinas will gather for
their monthly First Sunday Food and Fellowship this Sunday October 6,
following celebration of the 11:30 a.m. Traditional Latin Mass. Stop by
after Mass or after the Life Chain concludes (see announcement below).
Life Chain after This Sunday’s Latin Masses
– Sunday is Respect Life Sunday and Saint Ann Respect Life Ministry is
organizing the annual Life Chain along Park Road after the 12:30 p.m.
Latin Mass, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Likewise Saint Thomas Aquinas is
organizing their Life Chain along NC 49 after Latin Mass from
1:00-2:00 p.m. Please join your fellow parishioners and pray silently
for the sanctity of human life.
Sunday Coffee and Cookies – Readers are encouraged to help support the weekly service of coffee and cookies made available after the 12:30 p.m. Saint Ann Latin Mass by the Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society. Assistance in setting up, cleaning up, or otherwise supporting this weekly effort would be greatly appreciated.
Prayers for the Election – The following special prayer initiatives have been launched in anticipation of the national election scheduled to take place on November 5th:
54-Day Rosary Novena: Fr. Timothy S. Reid, pastor of St. Ann Parish, has encouraged participation in the 54-Day Rosary Novena already underway in connection with the upcoming national election. The novena began Friday (September 13th) and will conclude on Election Day (November 5th). Participants are asked to pray the Rosary daily for the intention that God’s will may be done in the election. “But also pray,” Fr. Reid urged, “for the respect and protection of life in all its stages; for the sanctity of marriage and families; for the upholding of constitutionally protected religious freedom; and for a return of our nation to God and holiness. And, of course, we should pray for peace in our world.” Fr. Reid also encouraged those who join in the 54-Day Rosary Novena to fast during this period, giving up something to reinforce their dedication to the prayer intentions.
Fr. Chad Ripperger’s Prayer for the Election: Fr. Chad Ripperger, who spoke at Saint Thomas Aquinas last year, has asked the faithful of the United States to pray for our nation as the election approaches. Fr. Ripperger, a Latin Mass priest and founder of the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother (the Doloran Fathers), is perhaps best known for his work as an exorcist. He has written a special prayer consecrating the election and its outcome to Our Lady. The text of the prayer may be found at the end of this update or downloaded at this link.
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
Our Lady of the Rosary is a memorial that has been observed for more than 450 years. Pope Pius V instituted the celebration in 1571 to commemorate the Christian victory at the naval Battle of Lepanto on October 7th of that year. Originally it was christened “Our Lady of Victory,” a title which reflected the widely held popular belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary had intervened to bring about the triumph of Christian forces in their struggle against the Turks. Pope Gregory XIII, who succeeded Pius V the following year, designated the first Sunday in October as the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. On the day of the battle his predecessor had called on the people of Rome to pray the Rosary while processing through the streets of the city. The fall of Famagusta to the forces of the Ottoman Empire two months earlier, and the torture and subsequent massacre of the defenders who survived, had induced incipient panic among the Romans. They turned out in massive numbers in response to the pope’s request.
The triumph of the Holy League at Lepanto marked an epochal turning-point in the long struggle against the threat of Muslim domination, ending Turkish control of the Mediterranean and halting the spread of the Ottoman Empire into central and western Europe. The Battle of Lepanto is generally considered one of the greatest naval engagements in history. The Turkish fleet of 275 galleys was commanded by Ali Pasha; the Holy League countered with a somewhat smaller naval force under the command of Don John of Austria, the illegitimate half-brother of King Philip II of Spain. At least 15,000 Muslims were killed, and almost 8,000 Christians perished. Twice that many Christians were wounded, including a gallant Spaniard named Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra whose left hand was permanently disabled by gunfire. Thirty-four years later, in 1605, he published the first part of the work that many consider the greatest novel ever written, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, a fact commemorated in the last stanza of G. K. Chesterton’s famous poem about the great naval battle, Lepanto:
Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade. . . .
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)
Closing Commentary
We offer, in closing, excerpts from the commentaries of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, on both the “Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost” and “October 7th – Feast of the Most Holy Rosary” followed by a link to the full text of each from The Liturgical Year. The commentaries are followed by Fr. Chad Ripperger’s “Consecration of the Election to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
The Gospel of last Sunday spoke to us of the nuptials of the Son of God with the human race. The realization of those sacred nuptials is the object which God had in view by the creation of the visible world; it is the only one he intends in his government of society. This being the case, we cannot be surprised that the parable of the Gospel, while revealing to us this divine plan, has also brought before us the great fact of the rejection of the Jews, and the vocation of the Gentiles, which is not only the most important fact of the world’s history, but is also the one which is the most intimately connected with the consummation of the mystery of the divine Union.
And yet, as we have already said, the exclusion of Juda is, one day, to cease. His obstinate refusal of the grace has been the occasion of us Gentiles having it brought to us by the messengers of God’s loving mercy. But now that the fullness of the Gentiles has heard and followed the heavenly invitation, the time is advancing when the accession of Israel will complete the Church in her members and give the Bride the signal of the final call, which will put an end to the long labor of ages, by making the Bridegroom appear. The holy jealousy, which the Apostle was so desirous to rouse, in the people of his race, by turning towards the Gentiles, will make itself, at last, be felt by the descendants of Jacob. What joy will there not be in heaven when they, repentant and humble, shall unite before God in the song of gladness sung by the Gentiles, in celebration of the entrance of his countless jewish people into the house of the divine banquet! That union of the two people will truly be a prelude to the great day mentioned by St. Paul when, speaking in his patriotic enthusiasm of the Jews, he said: If their offense (if their fall) hath been the riches of the world, and their diminution be the riches of the Gentiles—how much more the fullness of them!
Now, the Mass of this twentieth Sunday after Pentecost gives us a foretaste of that happy day, when the gratitude of the new people is not to be the only one to sing hymns of praise for the divine favors bestowed on our earth. The ancient Liturgists tell us that our Mass consists partly of the words of the Prophets, giving to Jacob an expression of his repentance, whereby he is to merit a return of God’s favors, and partly of inspired formulas, wherein the Gentiles, who are already within the hall of the marriage-feast, are singing their canticles of love. The Gentile-Choir takes the Gradual and Communion-Anthem; the Choir of the Jews, the Introit and Offertory.
The Introit is from the book of Daniel. Exiled to Babylon with his people, the Prophet—in that captivity whose years of bitterness were a figure of the still longer and intenser sufferings of the present dispersion—laments, with Juda, in that strange land, and at the same time instructs his people how they may be readmitted into God’s favor. It is a secret which Israel had lost ever since his commission of the crime on Calvary; though, in the previous ages of his history, he knew the happy secret, and had continually experienced its efficacy. What it was, it still is, and ever will be: it consists in the humble avowal of the sinner’s falls, in the suppliant regret of the culprit, and in the sure confidence that God’s mercy is infinitely above the sins of men, how grievous soever those may have been.
[Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost]
October 7th – Feast of the Most Holy Rosary
It is customary with men of the world to balance their accounts at the end of the year, and ascertain their profits. The Church is now preparing to do the same. We shall soon see her solemnly numbering her elect, taking an inventory of their holy relics, visiting the tombs of those who sleep in the Lord, and counting the sanctuaries, both old and new, that have been consecrated to her divine Spouse. But today’s reckoning is a more solemn one, the profits more considerable: she opens her balance sheet with the gain accruing to our Lady from the mysteries which compose the Cycle. Christmas, the Cross, the triumph of Jesus, these produce the holiness of us all; but before and above all, the holiness of Mary. The diadem which the Church thus offers first to the august Sovereign of the world, is rightly composed of the triple crown of these sanctifying mysteries, the causes of her joy, of her sorrow, and of her glory. The joyful mysteries recall the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, Mary’s Purification, and the Finding of our Lord in the Temple. The sorrowful mysteries bring before us the Agony of our blessed Lord, his being scourged, and crowned with thorns, the carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion. While in the glorious mysteries, we contemplate the Resurrection and Ascension of our Savior, Pentecost, and the Assumption and Coronation of the Mother of God. Such is Mary’s Rosary; a new and fruitful vine, which began to blossom at Gabriel’s salutation, and whose fragrant garlands form a link between earth and heaven.
In its present form, the Rosary was made known to the world by St. Dominic at the time of the struggles with the Albigensians, that social war of such ill-omen for the Church. The Rosary was then of more avail than armed forces against the power of Satan; it is now the Church’s last resource. It would seem that the ancient forms of social prayer being no longer relished by the people, the Holy Spirit has willed by this easy and ready summary of the Liturgy to maintain, in the isolated devotion of these unhappy times, the essential of that life of prayer, faith, and Christian virtue which the public celebration of the Divine Office formerly kept up among the nations. Before the thirteenth century, popular piety was already familiar with what was called the psalter of the laity, that is, the Angelical Salutation repeated one hundred and fifty times; it was the distribution of these Hail Marys into decades, each devoted to the consideration of a particular mystery that constituted the Rosary. Such was the divine expedient, simple as the Eternal Wisdom that conceived it, and far-reaching in its effects; for while it led wandering man to the Queen of mercy, it obviated ignorance which is the food of heresy, and taught him to find once more “the paths consecrated by the Blood of the Man-God, and by the tears of his Mother.” (Leo XIII, Epistle encycl. Magnæ Dei Matris, de Rosario Mariali. Sept. 8, 1892)
Thus speaks the great Pontiff who, in the universal sorrow of these days, has again pointed out the means of salvation more than once experienced by our fathers. Leo XIII, in his Encyclicals, has consecrated the present month to this devotion so dear to heaven; he has honored our Lady in her Litanies with a new title, Queen of the most holy Rosary; (Supremi Apostolatus Officio, Sept. 1, 1883) and he has given the final development to the solemnity of this day by raising it to the rank of a second class Feast, and by enriching it with a proper Office explaining its permanent object. (Decret. Sept. 11, 1887, Aug. 5, 1888) Besides all this, the Feast is a memorial of glorious victories which do honor to the Christian name.
Soliman II, the greatest of the Sultans, taking advantage of the confusion caused in the West by Luther, had filled the sixteenth century with terror by his exploits. He left to his son, Selim II the prospect of being able at length to carry out the ambition of his race: to subjugate Rome and Vienna, the Pope and the Emperor, to the power of the Crescent. The Turkish fleet had already mastered the greater part of the Mediterranean, and was threatening Italy when, on the 7th of October, 1571, it came into action, in the Gulf of Lepanto, with the pontifical galleys supported by the fleets of Spain and Venice. It was Sunday; throughout the world the confraternities of the Rosary were engaged in their work of intercession. Supernaturally enlightened, St. Pius V watched from the Vatican the battle undertaken by the leader he had chosen, Don John of Austria, against the three hundred vessels of Islam. The illustrious Pontiff, whose life’s work was now completed, did not survive to celebrate the anniversary of the triumph; but he perpetuated the memory of it by an annual commemoration of our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, altered this title to our Lady of the Rosary, and appointed the first Sunday of October for the new Feast, authorizing its celebration in those churches which possessed an altar under that invocation.