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12th May - Optional memorial of St. Nereus, St. Achilleus and St. Pancras, Martyrs. According to an inscription of Pope Damasus dating to the late fourth century Nereus and Achilleus were Roman martyrs from, possibly, the second century and were, according to legend, soldiers, who would carry out executions through fear on the orders of a cruel tyrant. Both were converted to Christianity, left military life, threw away their arms, confessed the faith of Christ and were martyred by being beheaded. Their cult was centred on their relics in the cemetery of Domitilla is very ancient and well testified. Little is known about Pancras’ life – he is supposed to have died in the early fourth century. The legend of his life tells that he was a Phygian orphan brought to Rome by his uncle. There both were converted to Christianity and Pancras suffered as a martyr at the early age of fourteen. Pope Gregory the Great dedicated a monastery at Rome to Pancras and St. Augustine a church to him at Canterbury. His relics were sent to Oswiu, the king or Northumbria, by Pope Vitalian in c. 664. Almighty and ever living God, grant that we who know of the courage of your holy martyrs St. Nereus, St. Achilleus and St. Pancras in confessing their faith in you, may experience their loving intercession for us in your presence. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Nereus_and_Achilleus https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10751a.htm https://catholicsaints.info/saint-achilleus-of-terracina/ https://catholicsaints.info/saint-flavia-domitilla-of-terracina/ https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nereus-of-terracina/ https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pancras-of-rome/ https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/pancras.htm https://www.bartleby.com/210/5/122.html |
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13th May - Optional memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. Fatima was the scene of six apparitions of Our Lady between the 13th of May and the 13th of October 1917 to three peasant children: Lucia Santos, Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco. During the apparitions Mary told the children to have processions in honour of the Immaculate Conception and to tell the faithful to do penance and to pray the Rosary because otherwise the world would be chastised for its sins. During the October apparition about seventy thousand pilgrims witnessed a spectacular solar phenomenon. In 1930 the bishops of Portugal declared the apparitions to be authentic and in 1942 Pope Pius XII, in response to Mary’s request, consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Almighty and ever living God, who chose the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of your only begotten Son, to be our Mother also, grant that, persevering in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world, we may further more effectively each day the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming of his Kingdom. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima http://www.peregrinosdefatima.pt/en/ https://www.piercedhearts.org/hearts_jesus_mary/apparitions/fatima/MemoriasI_en.pdf https://fatima.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-True-Story-of-Fatima.pdf https://fatima.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Sister-Lucy-sm.pdf https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2012/05/our-lady-of-fatima.html |
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Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Now having met together, they asked him, "Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth." As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near then and they said, "Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you saw him go there." The feast marks the end of Jesus’ earthly mission – yet he is with us until the end of time. He ascends to the Father where He intercedes for us. He goes with the promise that He will certainly come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. This is a celebration of Jesus’ eternal Kingship. These are reflected in the Entrance Antiphon “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky? The Lord will return, just as you have seen him ascend, alleluia” (Acts 1: 11) and in the Communion Antiphon “I, the Lord, am with you always, until the end of the world, alleluia” (Matthew 28: 20). The Opening Prayer expresses that in the Ascension of Jesus is the glory and hope that we may follow Him into the new creation – a theme developed in the Prayer over the Gifts. The readings of the Mass actually contain two accounts of the Ascension. The first reading is always that at the beginning of the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles while the Gospel is the same story as told by St. Matthew, St. Mark or St. Luke depending on which year of the lectionary is being read. See also https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01767a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_of_Jesus https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/ascension.htm https://catholicsaints.info/catholic-encyclopedia-feast-of-the-ascension/ |