Search results
Succinctly, a novena is a nine day period of private or public prayer to obtain special graces, to implore special favors, or make special petitions. (Novena is derived from the Latin novem, meaning nine.) As the definition suggests, the novena has always had more of a sense of urgency and neediness. In our liturgical usage, the novena differs ...
The image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an icon, painted on wood, and seems to have originated around the thirteenth century. Traditionally, the image is also known as “Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.”. The icon (about 54 x 41.5 centimeters) depicts our Blessed Mother Mary, under the title “Mother of God,” holding the Child Jesus.
The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional “forty-hour period” from our Lord’s burial until the resurrection. Actually in the Middle Ages, the Blessed Sacrament was transferred to the repository, “the Easter Sepulcher,” for this period of time to signify our Lord’s time in the tomb. The Forty Hours Devotion begins with a ...
The Church’s liturgical norms prescribe specific vestment colors for various celebrations. The purpose of utilizing different colors for vestments is twofold: First, the colors highlight the particular liturgical season and the faithful’s journey through these seasons. Second, the colors punctuate … Continued
Exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is not only a very old devotion in our Church, but one that highlights the fundamental mystery of the Holy Eucharist– that our Lord is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. In his 1980 Holy Thursday letter to priests, Dominicae cenae, Pope John Paul II ...
In the early history of the Church, we also see evidence of prayers for the dead. Inscriptions uncovered on tombs in the Roman catacombs of the second century evidence this practice. For example, the epitaph on the tomb of Abercius (d. 180) Bishop of Hieropolis in Phrygia begs for prayers for the repose of his soul.
In 1683, Pope Innocent XI extended the celebration of the feast day to the universal Church, to be celebrated on September 12 th, four days after the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother. With the revisions of the Roman Missal in 1970 following the Vatican Council II, the feast day was removed from the universal calendar, although the Votive Mass remained.
With the approval of the Archbishop de Quelen of Paris, the first 1,500 medals were struck on June 30, 1832. Because of the numerous favors received by the faithful, the medal was soon known as “miraculous.”. After a canonical inquiry at Paris (1836) regarding the apparitions, the medal was declared of supernatural origin.
At Mass, the priest prays for the Holy Spirit to descend like “the dewfall” to transubstantiate bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through this “living Bread come down from heaven,” we are united with Our Lord and together as a church in a holy Communion, and each of us can “live life to ...
Before delving into the question at hand, let us first investigate what we know about St. Jude. Unfortunately, Sacred Scripture does not provide many details about the life of St. Jude. Most importantly, he is listed as one of the … Continued
