Tridentine Community News - Exorcisms in the Blessing of Epiphany Water; Plenary Indulgence for Prayers During Pandemic; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (January 2, 2022):

January 2, 2022 – Holy Name of Jesus



A priest reader of this column who happens to be a diocesan exorcist pointed out that the prayers of exorcism in the Blessing of Epiphany Water are similarly worded to the prayers in the Rite of Exorcism. These prayers are more detailed than the prayers of exorcism of salt and water used in the blessing of regular Holy Water. The pure and exorcised Epiphany Water is customarily taken home and sprinkled in the rooms of the house as a protection against evil.

As a result this priest has decided to use Epiphany Water for other blessings he conducts during the year. For reference, one of those exorcism prayers from the Epiphany Water Blessing is provided below. Note that the Traditional Roman Ritual requires that it be prayed in Latin.

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 www.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!

Plenary Indulgence for Prayers During Pandemic

With the ending of the Year of St. Joseph on December 8, 2021, many easy ways to gain a Plenary Indulgence every day have expired. However one can still take advantage of the several simple means to gain a Plenary Indulgence during the time of pandemic, some of which can be done in your own home.

Holy Mother Church granted a simple way to gain a Plenary Indulgence during this time of pandemic “to those faithful who offer a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or Eucharistic adoration, or reading the Holy Scriptures for at least half an hour, or the recitation of the Holy Rosary, or the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross, or the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself.” The usual conditions of Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion once per indulgence sought, prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin apply in those locales where churches have reopened since the indulgence opportunity was first published. For complete details, see: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/03/20/200320c.html

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Thu. 01/06 7:00 PM: High Mass at OCLMA/Orchard Lake Shrine Chapel (Epiphany) – Celebrant: Fr. Clint McDonell. Blessing of Epiphany Water at 6:15 PM. Please bring bottles if you would like to take some home. A limited number of small bottles will also be available for those who do not bring their own.

Fri. 01/07 7:00 PM: High Mass at Old St. Mary’s (Feria of Epiphany) – Celebrant: Fr. Derik Peterman. Devotions to the Sacred Heart before Mass. Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the end of Mass. A reception follows in the Parish Hall.

[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 St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for January 2, 2022. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tridentine Community News - The Missal for the Blind; Bishops Saying Private Masses During Vatican II; Miles Christi Mass Time Change; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (August 16, 2020):

August 16, 2020 – Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

The Missal for the Blind

One of the more interesting obscure liturgical books is the Missále Cæcutiéntium, the so-called Missal for the Blind, more accurately described as an altar missal for priests with poor eyesight. It is a large format book with very large print. It contains the Ordinary of the Mass and only two sets of Propers, the Daily Mass for the Dead and the five seasonal Votive Masses of Our Lady. Presumably priests with poor eyesight were given dispensation to be able to use those two sets of Propers even on other Feast Days, through most likely not on the most important Feasts. This writer has only seen editions of this book from prior to 1955; the one whose pages are excerpted below was published in 1921. Nevertheless these missals are not all that rare and turn up with used book vendors relatively frequently.



With our current technology, a priest with poor eyesight can supplement one of these missals with copies of the actual Mass Propers for the day blown up on a photocopier for easier readability. One such priest in Florida using this missal actively does just that.

One must appreciate the care and concern that the Church showed for its priests with special needs back when such a specialized book with limited appeal needed to be created and kept up to date via a painstaking manual process, without the convenient computerized typesetting tools we enjoy today.

Bishops Saying Private Masses During Vatican II

This 2018 post on Fr. Z’s blog contains a link to a video of bishops saying their daily private Masses during the meetings of the Second Vatican Council: https://wdtprs.com/2018/07/video-bishops-saying-private-masses-during-vatican-ii/


Reader comments following the post remind us of the immense value of daily Masses celebrated individually by priests: Each Holy Mass that is offered brings tremendous graces to the world. When priests concelebrate a Mass, there is only one Mass being offered, not many, and thus the world does not receive as many graces as it would if multiple individual Masses had been offered instead. The Side Altars one sees in older churches were not placed there primarily to serve as devotional shrines, but as functioning altars on which the various priests serving that church would offer their daily Masses.

As the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass continues to regain popularity, the practice of celebrating individual daily Masses is slowly being recovered. As this column has previously pointed out, the gallery of Side Altars in the main chapel at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary is once again seeing regular use, as several priests who teach there offer their daily private Tridentine Masses on them. Some prominent churches known for Traditional Liturgy, such as the Birmingham, Oxford, and London Oratories in England, have always made frequent use of their Side Altars for private Masses. Last but not least, here in metro Detroit and Windsor you can witness multiple priests offering simultaneous Low Masses on the Side Altars of a church on All Souls Day, a tradition we hope to continue in 2020 at a church yet to be announced.

Miles Christi Mass Time Change

The weekly Saturday Low Mass at Miles Christi’s Family Center Chapel is now being held at 8:00 AM, 30 minutes earlier than before.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 08/18 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Agapitus, Martyr)
• Sat. 08/22 8:00 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Immaculate Heart of Mary)

[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 St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for August 16, 2020. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]