Lindsay Clancy's harrowing confession to husband Patrick about the 'male voice'...

 

Lindsay Clancy's harrowing confession to husband Patrick about the 'male voice' in her head ordering her to kill their children then herself!!!

Lindsay Clancy's psychologist recalled the moment she told her husband about the 'male voice' in her head that ordered her to kill her children, then herself. Dr Paul Zeizel, a highly experienced, well-respected forensic psychologist who works with defense attorney Kevin Reddington, was called to the stand on Tuesday.

He was at the heart of bombshell testimony earlier in the trial when a police officer admitted the state's apparent theory that a doctor coached Clancy to claim that she killed her children because she was hearing voices. Clancy, 36, is on trial for killing her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 2023. She strangled her children with exercise bands and then allegedly attempted to kill herself, but her efforts failed and left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair for life.

Clancy has admitted to killing her children but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis, and is seeking to be committed to a state mental health facility rather than prison. Dr Zeizel testified that when he visited Clancy in the hospital in the days after the killings, she borrowed his phone to call her husband, Patrick.

That was when she told her husband that she had heard a man's voice telling her to kill the children and herself. Dr Zeizel told the jury that he did not meet with Clancy until 11 days after the killings. When they did meet for the first time, Clancy was in her room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she was handcuffed to the bed. Dr Zeizel gave her a brief mental status exam, and testified that she didn’t know where she was. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but she knew who she was. She remembered what had happened but was very foggy, he said. Since January 24, 2023, Clancy had had no contact with Patrick, and she wanted to call him to see how he was doing and see how things were, according to Dr Zeizel. The psychologist said she asked him if he could use his cell phone, and he allowed her to, but said it would have to be on speakerphone. Patrick did not pick up the first time, and Clancy left a voicemail. 

Two days later, on February 6, 2023, she called again and Patrick answered. ‘She told Patrick that she loved him very much. She was unable to express a lot of emotion,' Dr Zeizel said. ‘She said that she heard a male voice ordering her, telling her, that she didn't have any choice. That she had to kill her children and kill herself.’ When asked if he told her to say that, he said no. He let her call her husband 'out of human compassion,' he said. He has met Clancy over 45 times, many of them inside Tewksbury Hospital, where she remains held. 'I would see Lindsey Clancy in lockup because the nature of presentation in this court has been gut-wrenching for anyone who would be exposed to such horrific,' Dr. Zeizel said before being cut off by the prosecution.

Read more

On Tuesday, Buckingham provoked a tense exchange with Patrick Clancy's mother, Sue Clancy, as she was called to the stand to testify for the defense. 'Are you an active member in the Catholic Church?The prosecutor asked.'Yes,' Sue answered.

'So you are aware that murder is considered a mortal sin,' Buckingham continued. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington quickly interjected: 'Objection!

More here

AUGUST 18 - FOURTH DAY WITHIN OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION

                        August 18

                         Gospel

                      Luke 1:41-50 

At that time, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how have I deserved that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, the moment that the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who has believed, because the things promised her by the Lord shall be accomplished. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for, behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; because He Who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name; and His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him.

             FOURTH DAY WITHIN 

   THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION 

The Liturgical Year - Ven. Dom Prosper Gueranger

In the eternal decrees Mary was never separated from Jesus; together with Him, she was the type of all created beauty. 

When the Almighty Father prepared the heavens and the earth, His Son who is His Wisdom, played before Him in His future humanity as first exemplar as measure and number, as starting point, center and summit of the work undertaken by the Spirit of Love; but at the same time the predestined Mother, the woman chosen to give to the Son of God from her own flesh His quality of Son of Man. appeared among mere creatures as the term of all excellence in the various orders of nature, of grace and of glory. We need not then be astonished at the Church putting on Mary's lips the words first uttered by Eternal Wisdom: 'From the beginning and before the world was I created.' The divine ideal was realized in her whole being, even in her body. To form out of nothing a reflection of the divine perfections is the purpose of creation and the law even of matter. Now next to the face of the most beautiful of the sons of men, nothing on earth so well expressed God as the Virgin's countenance. 

St. Denis is said to have exclaimed on seeing our Lady for the first time: 'Had not faith revealed to me thy Son, I should have taken thee for God.' Whether it be authentic or not to place it in the mouth of the Areopagite, this cry of the heart expresses the feeling of the ancients. We shall be the less surprised at this, if we remember that no son ever resembled his mother as Jesus did; it was the law of nature doubled in Him, since He had no earthly father. It is now the delight of the angels to behold in the glorified bodies of Jesus and Mary new aspects of eternal beauty, which their own immaterial substances could not reflect. Now the unspeakable perfection of Mary's body sprang from the union of that body with the most perfect soul that ever was, excepting, of course, the soul of our Lord her Son. With us, the Original Fall has broken the harmony that ought to exist between the two very different elements of our human being, and has generally displaced, and sometimes even destroyed, the proportions of nature and grace. It is very different where the divine work has not thus been vitiated from the beginning: so that in each blessed spirit of the nine choirs, the degree of grace is in direct relation to His gifts of nature. Exemption from sin allowed the soul of the Immaculate One to inform the body of its own image with absolute sway, while the soul itself, lending itself to grace to the full extent of its exquisite powers, suffered God to raise it supernaturally above all the Seraphim, even to the steps of His own throne. For in the kingdom of grace, as in that of nature, Mary's supereminence was such as became a Queen. At the first moment of her existence in the womb of St. Anne, she was set far above the highest mountains; and God, who loves only what He has made worthy of His love, loved this entrance, this gate of the true Sion, above all the tabernacles of Jacob. It was indeed impossible that the Word, who had chosen her for His Mother, should, even for an instant, love any creature more, as being more perfect. Throughout her life there was never in Mary the least want of correspondence with her preventing graces; so great perfection could not brook the least failing, the least interruption, the least delay. From the first moment of her most holy Conception till her glorious death, grace operated in her without hindrance, to the utmost of its divine power. Thus, starting from heights unknown to us, and doubling her speed at each stroke of her wings her powerful flight bore her up to that nearness to God, where our admiring contemplation follows her during these days. Our Lady, moreover, is not only the first-born, the most perfect, the most holy, of creatures and their Queen-or rather she is all this, only because she is also the Mother of the Son of God. 

God the Father Designing the Immaculate Conception

If we wish only to prove that she alone surpasses all the united subjects of her vast empire, we may compare her with men and with angels, in the order of nature and of grace. But all comparison is out of the question if we try to follow her to the inaccessible heights, where, still the handmaid of the Lord, she participates in the eternal relations which constitute the Blessed Trinity. What mode of divine charity is that whereby a creature loves God as her Son? But let us listen to the Bishop of Meaux, not the least of whose merits is to have understood as he did the greatness of Mary: To form the holy Virgin's love, it was necessary to mingle together all that is most tender in nature and most efficacious in grace. Nature had to be there, for it was love of a son; grace had to act, for it was love of a God. But what is beyond our imagination is that nature and grace were insufficient; for it is not in nature to have God for a son; and grace, at least ordinary grace, cannot love a son as God: we must therefore rise higher. Suffer me, 0 Christians, to raise my thoughts to-day beyond nature and grace, and to seek the source of this love in the very bosom of the Eternal Father. The divine Son, of whom Mary is Mother, belongs to her and to God. She is united with God the Father by becoming the Mother of His only begotten Son, who is common to her and the Eternal Father by the manner of His conception. But to make her capable of conceiving God, the Most High had to overshadow her with His own power-that is, to extend to her His own fecundity. In this way Mary is associated in the eternal generation. But this God, who willed to give her His Son, was obliged also, in order to complete His work, to place in her chaste bosom a spark of the love He himself bears to His only Son, who is the splendour of His glory and the living image of His substance. Such is the origin of Mary's love: it springs from an effusion of God's heart into hers; and her love of her Son is given to her from the same source as her Son Himself. After this mysterious communication, what hast thou to say, 0 human reason? Canst thou pretend to understand the union of Mary with Jesus Christ? It has in it something of that perfect unity which exists between the Father and the Son. Do not attempt any more to explain that maternal love which springs from so high a source, and which is an overflow of the love of the Father for His only begotten Son.'

August 18 - Agapitus of Palestrina - Martyr

Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, sends a representative to Mary's court to-day, in the person of its valiant and gentle martyr, Agapitus. By his youth and his fidelity, he reminds us of that other gracious athlete, the acolyte Tarcisius, whose victory, gained on August 15, is eclipsed by the glory of Mary's queenly triumph. During the persecution of Valerian, and just before the combats of Sixtus and Lawrence, Tarcisius, carrying the body of our Lord, was met by some pagans, who tried to force him to show them what he had; but, pressing the heavenly treasure, to his heart, he suffered himself to be crushed beneath their blows rather than 'deliver up to mad dogs the members of the Lord.' 

Agapitus, at fifteen years of age, suffered cruel tortures under Aurelian. Though so young he may have seen the disgraceful end of Valerian; while the new edict, which enabled him to follow Tarcisius to Mary's feet, had scarcely been promulgated throughout the empire, when Aurelian, in his turn, was cast down by Christ, from whom alone kings and emperors hold their crowns.

PRAYER

Let Thy Church rejoice,

O God, relying on the

intercession of blessed Agapitus.

Thy martyr; and by his glorious

Prayers, may she remain devout

and be securely supported.

Fourth day within the Octave of the Assumption The Roman Breviary - Vespers

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Judith 13:22-23

The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth.

Hymn

Ave, star of ocean,

Child divine who barest,

Mother, Ever-Virgin,

Heaven's portal fairest.

Taking that sweet Ave

Erst by Gabriel spoken,

Eva's name reversed,

Be of peace the token.

Break the sinners' fetters,

Light to blind restoring,

All our ills dispelling,

Every boon imploring.

Show thyself a mother

In thy supplication;

He will hear who chose thee

At his incarnation.

Maid all maids excelling,

Passing meek and lowly,

Win for sinners pardon,

Make us chaste and holy.

As we onward journey

Aid our weak endeavor,

Till we gaze on Jesus

And rejoice forever.

Father, Son, and Spirit,

Three in One confessing,

Give we equal glory

Equal praise and blessing.

Amen.

Prayer

Almighty everlasting God, who hast taken body and soul into heaven the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son: grant, we beseech thee, that by steadfastly keeping heaven as our goal we may be counted worthy to join her in glory.

August 19 - St. John Eudes

 

              St. John Eudes

John was born in the year 1601, of pious and respectable parents, at a village commonly known as Ri, in the diocese of Seez. While still a boy, when he was fed with the bread of Angels, he cheerfully made a vow of perpetual chastity. Having been received at the College of Caen, directed by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, he was conspicuous for a remarkable piety; and, committing himself to the protection of the Virgin Mary, when still a youth he signed with his own blood, the special covenant he had entered into with her. Having completed his courses of letters and of philosophy with great distinction, and having spurned opportunities of marriage which had been arranged for him, he enrolled himself with the Congregation of the Oratory de Bérulle, and was ordained priest at Paris. He was on fire with a marvellous love towards his neighbour: for he took the most constant pains in caring for both the souls and bodies of those smitten with the Asiatic plague, in many different places. He was made Rector of the Oratorian house at Caen, but since he had been thinking for a long time of educating suitable young men for the ministry of the Church, earnestly asking for the divine assistance, with a brave spirit he most regretfully departed from the associates with whom he had lived for twenty years.

     Accordingly, associating five priests with himself, in the year 1643, on the feastday of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, he founded a Congregation of Priests, to whom he gave the most holy names of Jesus and Mary, and opened the first seminary at Caen; and a great many others followed immediately in Normandy and Brittany, also founded by him. For the recalling of sinful women to a Christian life, he founded the Order of Our Lady of Charity; of which most noble tree, the Congregation of the Good Shepherd of Angers is a branch. Furthermore, he founded the Society of the Admirable Heart of the Mother of God, and other charitable institutions. He was the author of many excellent treatises, and laboured as an Apostolic Missionary to the very end of his life, preaching the Gospel in very many villages, towns, and cities, and even in the royal court.

     His matchless zeal was very conspicuous in promoting the salutary devotion towards the most sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, whose liturgical worship he was the first of all to devise, although not without some divine inspiration. He is therefore held to be the father, the teacher, and the apostle of that worship. Courageously withstanding the doctrines of the Jansenists, he preserved unalterable obedience towards the Chair of Peter, and he constantly prayed to God, both for his enemies as well as for his brethren. Broken by so many labours, rather than by years, desiring to be freed and to be with Christ, on the 19th day of August, 1680, frequently repeating the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, he died in peace. As he became illustrious by many miracles, Pope Pius X added him to the list of the Blessed, and as he still shone forth with new signs and wonders, Pope Pius XI, in the holy year and on the day of Pentecost, placed him among the Saints, and extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

Hymn

This the confessor of the Lord, whose triumph

Now all the faithful celebrate, with gladness

On this feast day year by year receiveth

Merited honors.

Saintly and prudent, modest in behaviour,

Peaceful and sober, chaste was he, and lowly.

While that life's vigour, coursing through his members,

Quickened his being.

Sick ones of old time, to his tomb resorting,

Sorely by ailments manifold afflicted,

Oft-times have welcomed health and strength returning,

At his petition.

Whence we in chorus gladly do him honour,

Chanting his praises with devout affection,

That in his merits we may have a portion,

Now and forever.

His be the glory, power and salvation,

Who over all things reigneth in the highest,

Earth's mighty fabric ruling and directing,

Onely and Trinal.

Amen.

Magnificat of Saint John Eudes

My soul doth magnify the admirable Heart of Jesus and Mary,

And my spirit rejoices in my great Heart.

Jesus and Mary have given me their Heart,

This immense Heart in order that all in me

May be performed in its love.

Infinite thanks to them for their ineffable gift.

This heart infinitely merciful has done great things for me;

It has possessed me from the womb of my mother.

Infinite thanks for His ineffable gifts.

The abyss of my misery has called on the abyss of His Mercy.

Infinite thanks for His ineffable gifts.

This Heart infinitely meek has presented me

With blessings of its sweetness.

Infinite thanks for His ineffable gifts. 

       August 19 - Mass Propers

              St. John Eudes

Twelfth week after Pentecost within the 

         Octave of the Assumption

      Double/White Vestments

             Missa 'Os Justi'

      

INTROIT -  Psalm 36: 30-31

The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment: the law of his God is in his heart. Ps. Be not emulous of evildoers: nor envy them that work iniquity. Glory be to the Father.

Os justi meditabitur sapientiam, et lingua ejus loquetur judicium: lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius. Ps. Noli æmulari in malignantibus: neque zelaveris facientes iniquitatem. Gloria Patri.

COLLECT

O God, Who didst wonderfully inflame blessed John, Thy Confessor, to promote the public worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and through him didst will to found new religious families in Thy Church: grant, we beseech Thee, that we who venerate his merits may also be taught by the example of his virtues. Through the same Lord.

Second Collect - Commemoration of the Octave of the Assumption

Almighty, everlasting God, Who took up, body and soul, the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son, into heavenly glory, grant, we beseech You, that, always devoting ourselves to heavenly things, we may be found worthy to share in her glory. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son…

EPISTLE - Ecclesiasticus 31: 8-11

Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful things in his life. Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting: he that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them: therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the Church of the Saints shall declare his alms.

GRADUAL - Psalm 91: 13, 14

The Just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus in the house of the Lord. To show forth Thy mercy in the morning, and Thy truth in the night.

ALLELUIA - James 1: 12

Alleluia. Alleluia. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL - Luke 12: 35-40

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands, and you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: amen I say to you that he will girt himself and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch. and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready, for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come.

Madonna and Child with St. Jerome and St. Gregory the Great (Pinturicchio, Louvre)

Homily by Pope St Gregory the Great

Dearly beloved brethren, the words of the Holy Gospel, which have just been read, lie open before you, and, lest their very plainness should make them seem to some to be hard, we will go through them with such shortness as that neither may they which understand not remain unenlightened, nor they which understand be wearied. The Lord saith Let your loins be girded about. Now, we gird our loins about, when by continency we master the lustful inclination of the flesh. But, forasmuch as it sufficeth not for a man to abstain from evil deeds, if he strive not to join thereto the earnest doing of good works, it is immediately added And your lights burning. Our lights burn when, by good works, we give bright example to our neighbour; concerning which works the Lord saith Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Which is in heaven. 

Here, then, are two commandments, to gird our loins about, and to keep our lights burning the cleanness of purity in our body, and the light of the truth in our works. Whoso hath the one and not the other, pleaseth not thereby our Redeemer; that is, he pleaseth Him not which doth good works, but bridleth not himself from the pollutions of lust, neither he which is eminent in chastity, but exerciseth not himself in good works. Neither is chastity a great thing without good works, nor good works anything without chastity. And if any man do both, it remaineth that he must look by hope toward our Fatherland above, and not have for his reason wherethrough he turneth himself away from vice, the love of honour in this present world.

 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. The Lord cometh at the hour of judgment He knocketh when, by the pains of sickness, He biddeth us know that death is nigh. To Him open we immediately, if we receive Him in love. Whoso feareth to leave this body, will not open to the Judge when He knocketh, for he dreadeth to see that Judge, Whom he knoweth that he hath despised. But whosoever knoweth that his hope and works are built upon a good foundation, when he heareth the Judge knock, openeth to Him immediately, for to such an one that coming is blessed, yea, when the hour of death is at hand, such an one haileth with gladness a glorious reward.

OFFERTORY - Psalm 88: 25

My truth and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name shall his horn be exalted.

SECRET

In memory of Thy Saints, O Lord, we offer Thee the sacrifice of praise, by which we trust to be freed from both present and future evils. Through our Lord.

Commemoration of the Octave of the Assumption

May the offering of our devotion rise unto You, O Lord, and by the intercession of the most blessed Virgin Mary, who was taken up into heaven, may our hearts, on fire with love, strive ever upward to You. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord…

COMMON PREFACE

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: through Christ our Lord. through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, Dominations worship, Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise…

COMMUNION - Matthew 24: 46-47

Blessed is that servant, whom when his Lord shall come he shall find watching: amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods.

POSTCOMMUNION

Refreshed by meat and drink from heaven, O God, we humbly entreat Thee, that we may be protected by the prayers of him in whose memory we have partaken. Through our Lord.

Commemoration of the Octave of the Assumption

Having partaken, O Lord, of the sacrament of salvation, grant, we beseech You, that through the merits and intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, who was taken up into heaven, we may be delivered from all the evils that threaten us. Through Jesus Christ…

ST..JOACHIM -- FATHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 

                      

                      AUGUST 16

                 SAINT JOACHIM

CONFESSOR, FATHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

                Epistle and Gospel

Epistle Ecclesiasticus 31: 8-11

Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures.  Who is he, and we will praise him?  for he hath done wonderful things in his life.  Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting:  he that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed:  and could do evil things, and hath not done them:  therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the Church of the Saints shall declare his alms.

Gospel - Matthew 1: 1-16

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; and Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; and Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; and Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:  and after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

From time immemorial the Greeks have celebrated the feast of St. Joachim the day following our Lady's birthday. The Maronites kept it on the day after the Presentation in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The Latins at first did not keep his feast. Later on it was admitted and celebrated sometimes on the day after the Octave of the Nativity, September 1:6, sometimes on the day following the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, December 9. Thus both East and West agreed in associating St. Joachim with his illustrious daughter when they wished to do him honour. About the year 1510, Julius II placed the feast of the grandfather of the Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the rank of double major; and remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of grace were in such perfect harmony, be fixed the solemnity on March 20, the day after that of his son-in-law, St. Joseph. The life of the glorious patriarch resembled those of the first fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually changing his place upon the sacred cycle. Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II the critical spirit of the day cast doubts upon the history of St. Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman breviary. Gregory XV, however, re-established his feast in 1622 as a double, and the Church has since continued to celebrate it. Devotion to our Lady's father continuing to increase very much, the Holy See was petitioned to make his feast a holiday of obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, St. Anne. In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of days of obligation, Clement XII in 1738 transferred the feast of St. Joachim to the Sunday after the Assumption of his daughter, the Blessed Virgin, and restored to it the rank of double major. On August 1, 1879, the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in baptism, raised both the feast of his glorious patron and that of St. Anne to the rank of doubles of the second class. The following is an extract from the decree Urbi et Orbi, announcing this decision with regard to the said feasts: 

Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honor and veneration ought we then to render to St. Joachim and St. Anne, who begot the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others.' By your fruits are you known,' says St. John Damascene; you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the angels and has become their Queen.' 

Now since, through the divine mercy, in our unhappy times the honor and worship paid to the Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the new glory which surrounds their blessed daughter should redound upon her happy parents. May this increase of devotion towards them cause the Church to experience still more their powerful protection.

Prayer

Father of Mary, we thank thee. All creation owes thee a debt of gratitude, since the Creator was pleased that thou shouldst give Him the Mother He had chosen for Himself. Husband of holy Anne, thou showest us what would have been in paradise; thou seemest to have been reinstated in primeval innocence, in order to give birth to the Immaculate Virgin; sanctify Christian life, and elevate the standard of morals. Thou art the Grandfather of Jesus: let thy paternal love embrace all Christians who are His brethren. Holy Church honors thee more than ever in these days of trial; she knows how powerful thou art with the Eternal and Almighty Father, who made thee instrumental, through thy blessed daughter, in the temporal generation of his Eternal Son.

 Dom Gueranger - The Liturgical Year

FEAST OF OUR LADY'S ASSUMPTION INTO HEAVEN

 

       Holy Day of Obligation   

Double of the First Class with a common Octave

        White Vestments

   Missa ‘Signum magnum’

 

INTROIT - Apocalypse 12: 1

Signum magnum appáruit in cælo: múlier amícta sole, et luna sub pédibus ejus, et in cápite ejus coróna stellárum duódecim. Ps. 97. 1. Cantáte Dómino cánticum novum: quia mirabília fecit. V. Gloria Patri.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Ps. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because He hath done wonderful things. V. Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT

Omnipotens sempitérne Deus, qui Immaculátam Virginem Maríam, Fílii tui Genitrícem, córpore et ánima ad cæléstem glóriam assumpsísti: concéde, quǽsumus; ut ad supérna semper inténti, ipsíus glóriæ mereámur esse consórtes. Per eúmdem Dóminum nostrum.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast taken up the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of Thy Son, with body and soul into heavenly glory: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may always, intent on higher things, deserve to be partakers of her glory. Through the same our Lord.

EPISTLE 

Judith 13: 22-25; 15. 10 benedíxit te Dóminus in virtúte sua, quia per te ad níhilum redégit inimícos nostros. Benedícta es tu, fília, a Dómino Deo excélso, præ ómnibus muliéribus super terram. Benedíctus Dóminus, qui creávit cælum et terram, qui te diréxit in vúlnera cápitis príncipis inimicórum nostrórum; quia hódie nomen tuum ita magnificávit, ut non recédat laus tua de ore hóminum, qui mémores fúerint virtútis Dómini in ætérnum, pro quibus non pepercísti ánimæ tuæ propter angústias et tribulatiónem géneris tui, sed subvenísti ruínæ ante conspéctum Dei nostri.  Tu glória Jerúsalem, tu lætítia Israël, tu honorificéntia pópuli nostri.

The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, because by thee He hath brought our enemies to nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord, who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies; because He hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord, for ever: for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people; but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people.

GRADUAL - Psalm  44: 11-12, 14

Audi, fília, et vide, et inclína aurem tuam, et concupíscet rex pulchritúdinem tuam. V. Tota decóra ingréditur fília regis, textúræ áureæ sunt amíctus ejus.

Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and the King shall greatly desire thy beauty. V. The daughter of the King comes in, all beautiful: her robes are of golden cloth.

ALLELUIA

Allelúia, allelúia. V. Assúmpta est María in cælum: gaudet exércitus  Angelórum.  

Alleluia.

Alleluia, alleluia. V. Mary has been taken up into heaven: the choirs of angels rejoice. Alleluia.

GOSPEL Luke 1: 41-50

In illo témpore: Repléta est Spíritu Sancto Elísabeth et exclamávit voce magna, et dixit: Benedícta tu inter mulíeres, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui. Et unde hoc mihi ut véniat mater Dómini mei ad me? Ecce enim ut facta est vox salutatiónis tuæ in áuribus meis, exsultávit in gáudio infans in útero meo. Et beáta, quæ credidísti, quóniam perficiéntur ea, quæ dicta sunt tibi a Dómino. Et ait María: Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum: et exsultávit spíritus meus in Deo salutári meo; quia respéxit humilitátem ancíllæ suæ, ecce enim ex hoc beátam me dicent omnes generatiónes. Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen ejus, et misericórdia ejus a progénie in progénies timéntibus eum.

At that time, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour; because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name, and His mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him.

OFFERTORY 

Genesis 3: 15

Inimicitias ponam inter te et Mulíerem et semen tuum et Semen illíus.

I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and between thy seed and her Seed.

SECRET

Ascéndat ad te, Dómine, nostræ devotiónis oblátio, et, beatíssima Vírgine María in cælum assúmpta intercedénte, corda nostra, caritátis igne succénsa, ad te júgiter adspírent. Per Dóminum nostrum.

May the offering of our devotion ascend to Thee, O Lord; and through the intercession of the most blessed Virgin Mary, who was taken up into heaven, may our hearts be inflamed with the fire of love, and continually long for Thee.  Through our Lord.

PREFACE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

Vere dignum et justum est, aéquum et salutáre, nos tibi semper, et ubíque grátias ágere: Dómine sancte, Pater omnipotens, ætérne Deus: Et te in Assumptióne beátae Maríæ semper Vírginis collaudáre, benedícere et prædicáre. Quæ et Unigénitum tuum Sancti Spíritus obumbratióne concépit: et virginitátis gloria permanénte, lumen ætérnum mundo effúdit, Jesum Christum Dóminum nostrum. Per quem majestátem tu am laudant Angeli, adórant Dominatiónes, tremunt Potestátes. Cæli, cælorúmque Virtútes, ac beáta Séraphim, sócia exsultatióne concélebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces, ut admítti júbeas, deprecámur, súpplici confessióne dicéntes:

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and eternal God: and that we should praise, bless and proclaim Thee in the Assumption of the blessed Mary ever virgin: who conceived Thine only begotten Son by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost; and losing not the glory of her virginity, gave forth to the world the eternal Light, Jesus Christ our Lord through Whom the angels praise Thy majesty, Dominations worship, Powers stand in awe: the Heavens and the hosts of heaven, with blessed Seraphim unite, exult, and celebrate; and we entreat that Thou wouldst bid our voices also to be heard with theirs, singing in lowly praise:

COMMUNION Luke 1: 48-49

Beatam me dicent omnes generatiónes, quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est.

All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things to me.

POSTCOMMUNION

Sumptis, Dómine, salutáribus sacraméntis, da quǽsumus: ut, méritis et intercessióne beátæ Vírginis Maríæ in cælum assúmptæ, ad resurrectiónis glóriam perducámur.  Per Dóminum.

Now that we have received, O Lord, the Sacrament of salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the merits and the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, who was taken up into heaven, we may be brought to the glory of the resurrection. Through our Lord.