What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

I just made a slight adjustment to the style sheet for this blog.  I made the type face/font in the comments and left bar a little larger.  I hope that helps make the comments areas a bit easier to read.

You probably know by now that I am a fan of the Martyrologium Romanum, or Roman Martyrology.  This is a book which containsa list, for every day of the year, of martyrs and other saints whose feasts or commemorations are in the Roman Calendar.  It is not exhaustive, but it is very good.  The Martyrologium Romanum is a liturgical book and therefore it will have to be translated according to the norms laid down in Liturgiam authenticam. 

The MartRom was used for the recitation or singing of the Office, especially in choir.  In monasteries extensive use is made of martyrologies.  In recent times, and after a gap of many years, the Church has updated the Roman Martyrology.  There was an editio typica in 2001 and then, remarkably, an editio altera in 2004! 

I attended the release of both of the editions of this useful volume.  His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze cordially signed my copy of the altera with a good inscription and pep talk!  but I digress.

In any event, in another entry/thread where there was some discussion of the wonderful MartRom, and what Mass could be chosen for celebration each day.  A frequent contributor offered this, from the GIRM or General Instruction of the Roman Missal 353:

In feriis per annum, eligi potest aut Missa de feria, aut Missa de memoria ad libitum forte occurrente, aut Missa de aliquo Sancto eo die in Martyrologio inscripto. . . .

In the English translation of the GIRM we find this as 355 c.:

On the weekdays in Ordinary Time, it is possible to choose either a weekday Mass, or the Mass of an optional memorial which happens to occur on that day, or the Mass of any Saint listed in the Martyrology for that day, or a Mass for Various Needs, or a Votive Mass. 

I think it is quite interesting that it says "Saint" and not "Blessed".

Therefore, when 4 September rolls around priests could choose to celebrate a Mass in honor of St. Moses, the Old Testment prophet.  On 1 July we could have picked a Mass for St. Aaron.  Today I could have chosen St. Disibod the hermit (VII c.) or St. Kilian, bishop and martyr (VIII c.). 

I would not however have been able to celebrate Bl. Pope Eugene III about whom I wrote elsewhere.  Since he is only beatified he can only be celebrated at the altar in certain places where such a permission is given, as for example in the Vatican Basilica. 

The Vatican Basilica has another special today, for Bl. Pope Eugene, III.  Who was this fellow?

Bernardo dei Paganelli di Montemagno was from Pisa.  He was a pupil of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Abbot of a Cistercian monastery near Rome.  He was elected Pope in 1145.  Due to revolts in Rome, he was unable to live in the City.  He was for a time in Viterbo, where there is a fabulous papal palace you can visit (I know a good restaurant nearby) and then at Siena.  Then, alas, he went to France.

When Edessa fell to the Turks with the help of St. Bernard he called for a new Crusade.

Eugene was a reformer as well, focusing on the clerical life.  He approved the visionary works of the famous St. Hildegard of Bingen. Eventually, with the help of the King of Sicily, entered Rome for a time, but then had to flee again.  He died in Tivoli on 8 July 1153. 

While Eugene III always had political problems with the City of Rome, he didn’t not have difficulty with his spiritual rule in his role as Vicar of Christ.  Therefore, after his death, he was buried in the Vatican Basilica, and miraculous cures began at his tomb.  He was beatified by Bl. Pius IX in 1872.

Today in the Vatican Basilica his Mass is celebrated using the Common for Pastors – Visitabo with the following

COLLECT
Domine Deus noster,
qui Beatum Eugenium e coenobii solitudine
ad Petri Cathedram,
ut fratres suos in fide confirmaret, vocasti:
eius precibus concede,
ut Ecclesia tua firmiter supra Petram,
qui Christus est, solidata iugiter perseveret.

LITERAL VERSION
O Lord our God,
who called Blessed Eugene from the solitude of the monastery
to the Cathedra of Peter
in order that he strengthen his brethren,
grant by means of his prayers,
that Your Church, who is Christ, may always persevere
firmly established upon the Rock.

There are some interesting things going on here.  First, note the play between Petrus and Petra... Peter and "Rocky". 

Second, notice that there is a reference to Christ’s words to Peter that when he would come to his senses, after denying Him three times (cf. Luke 22:32).  This is the reference you will find in papal documents that contain definitive or infallible teachings.  "Confirming the brethren" is a specific Christ conferred and indispensbile dimension of the Petrine ministry and the very fabric of the Church.

Third, notice how the prayer identifies the Church with Christ.  It does not identify Christ with the Church!  Yes, the Church is Christ!  We must never reduce Christ to the Church.  Christ is much larger than His Church!

Back on 26 June I posted a rather long entry on the chalice in Valencia which could well be the real Holy Grail.  You might want to review it if you didn’t see it before.