Sunday, January 04, 2015


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News (January 4, 2015):
Epiphany Traditions

In many dioceses, the Feast of the Epiphany in the Ordinary Form calendar is transferred to the Sunday between January 2 and January 8. In the Extraordinary Form calendar, however, Epiphany always occurs on its traditional date of January 6. Epiphany is the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and therefore is the day after which many parishes take down their Christmas decorations.


The Tridentine calendar views Epiphany as the start of a new Octave, eight days with a consistent theme. This is seen most vividly in the use of the Preface and Communicántes of the Epiphany through January 13. Because of the solemnity and joyful nature of the season, the Church prohibits the use of the Daily (Requiem) Mass for the Dead during throughout Christmastide and the Octave of the Epiphany. Blessing of Chalk and Epiphany Water

There is a longstanding tradition of blessing chalk, water, and occasionally incense on the Epiphany. The European custom is to take the blessed chalk home and use it to write over the door of the house, 20 + C + M + B + 15, where the letters stand for the names of the Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. It is a way of dedicating the year and one’s home to our Lord. If blessed incense was also distributed, the door of the house is incensed.

“Three Kings Water” is blessed with an elaborate ceremony from the Rituále Románum. The ceremony includes an impressive and unequivocal prayer of exorcism, printed below. This prayer is more detailed than the prayers of exorcism used in the blessing of regular Holy Water. The pure and exorcised Epiphany Water is then taken home and sprinkled in the rooms of the house as a protection against evil. The full English translations of the Blessings of Epiphany Chalk and Water were published in our January 3 and January 10, 2010 columns and are available on the Tridentine Community News page of windsorlatinmass.org.
Exorcism Against Satan and the Apostate Angels

We cast thee out, every unclean spirit, every devilish power, every assault of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect, by the Name and power of our Lord Jesus + Christ, and command thee to fly far from the Church of God and from all who are made to the image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb +. Presume never again, thou cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the Church of God, nor to strike the chosen of God and sift them as wheat +. For the Most High commands thee, + He to Whom thou didst hitherto in thy great pride presume thyself equal; He Who desireth that all men might be saved, and come to the knowledge of truth. God the Father + commandeth thee! God the Son + commandeth thee! God the Holy + Spirit commandeth thee! The majesty of Christ commands thee, the Eternal Word of God made flesh, + Who for the salvation of our race, lost through thy envy, humbled Himself and was made obedient even unto death; Who built His Church upon a solid rock, and proclaimed that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the world! The Sacred Mystery of the Cross + commands thee, as well as the power of all Mysteries of Christian faith! + The most excellent Virgin Mary, Mother of God + commands thee, who in her lowliness crushed thy proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception! The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the other apostles + commands thee! The blood of the martyrs commands thee, as well as the pious intercession + of holy men and women!

Therefore, accursed dragon and every diabolical legion, we adjure thee by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, by the God Who so loved the world that He gave His Sole-Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but shall have life everlasting – cease thy deception of men and thy giving them to drink of the poison of eternal damnation; desist from harming the Church and fettering her freedom! Get thee gone, Satan, founder and master of all falsity, enemy of mankind! Give place to Christ in Whom thou didst find none of thy works; give place to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church which Christ Himself bought with His Blood! Be thou brought low under God’s mighty hand; tremble and flee as we call upon the holy and awesome name of Jesus, before Whom hell trembles, and to Whom the Virtues, Powers, and Dominations are subject; Whom the Cherubim and Seraphim praise with unfailing voices, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of Hosts!
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church to Host Special Tridentine Mass

Through the kind graces of Fr. Clint McDonell and pastor Fr. Scott Thibodeau, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Beverly Hills, Michigan will host its first Tridentine Mass in over 45 years on Tuesday, January 6 at 7:00 PM for the Feast of the Epiphany. Oakland County Latin Mass Association volunteers are assisting with the organization of this Mass. OLQM is a 1960s era church that still has a Communion Rail.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Mon. 01/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (St. Telesphorus, Pope & Martyr)
  • Tue. 01/06 7:00 PM: High Mass at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Beverly Hills, Michigan (Epiphany of the Lord)
  • Tue. 01/06 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Epiphany of the Lord)
  • Tue. 01/06 7:00 PM: High Mass at Our Lady of the Scapular, Wyandotte, Michigan (Epiphany of the Lord)
  • Tue. 01/06 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Epiphany of the Lord)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for January 4, 2015. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

No comments:

Post a Comment