From the 1945 Marian Missal:

The Station Church [the churches at which it was formerly the custom for the Pope to personally celebrate the principal liturgies on certain important days] for Christmas Eve is at St. Mary Major in Rome with a Privileged Vigil of the First Class. It was only when Our Lord’s nativity was celebrated with increasing solemnity that a special Mass was said on this vigil. The actual solemnity of December 25, instead of consisting of two Masses, one of the vigil and the other of the feast, with a third inserted in commemoration of St. Anastasia, ended by allowing four Masses, all of them in honor of the Christian mystery. Thus, one in the evening of December 24 at the beginning of the night Office, one at midnight at the first cock crowing, one in the early morning, and one, finally, at the hour of Terce. Unlike the other vigils, in which the penitential character and a sense of sadness predominate, that of Christmas, is full of vivacity and holy joy. This is fully in accordance with the nature of the heart of man. After so long a period of anxious and painful expectation the sudden news of our approaching deliverance lightens the heart, while a common joy unites us and makes us forget for a moment the hard conditions of our life here below.

The first Mass at Midnight for the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, the Redeemer of mankind, has always been held at the Station of St. Mary Major, where the relics of the Bethlehem crib are kept, for it was at midnight that Our Lady brought forth her first-born Son into the world and laid Him in a cradle, or a manger. As we saw in Advent, the first Coming of Our Lord prepares us for the second Coming.

The second Mass at Dawn used for its station the very ancient church of St. Anastasia, whose name appears in the Canon of the Mass. She was burnt alive at Sirmium in Yuglosavia on December 25th during the terrible Diocletian Persecution in the early 300’s. There is a commemoration of St. Anastasia at this second Mass and, like the shepherds, we need to do what they did: glorify and praise God for all the things we had heard and seen, as it was told unto us through the True Church. The Epistle shares the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior who first appeared to the shepherds, so that all would know that being justified by the grace of Our Lord we may be heirs of life everlasting. Let us go, as the Gospel relates, with the shepherds to the Infant Jesus; the Lord manifested to these shepherds the Incarnation of His Son. Let us go with haste and adore Him in the crib.

The third Mass during the day on Christmas Day returns to the major Station at St. Mary Major and we hear in the Epistle from St. Paul that it was by the Word that God made the world. Let the nations and kings come and adore Him. If the Angels fall down and worship Him, can we do any less. We kneel and do just that during the very Gospel — the Last Gospel — we hear at every Mass for it is the main Gospel on this day: that of John 1: 1-14, for indeed “The Word was made flesh.” The et verbum caro factum est completes the prophecies of the Old Testament, for the promised Infant God-man has indeed come and the Redemption accomplished by Christ at His first coming will be completed by Him at the end of time when He comes again. The Last Gospel for this Mass only is that of Matthew 2: 1-2, that of his account of the Magi. During this Holy Mass of the Day, every priest celebrates Mass for those of his parish.

The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers (around sunset) of the last seven days of Advent preceding the vigil of Christmas. Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:

• December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
• December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
• December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
• December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
• December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
• December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Gentiles)
• December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with Us)

The hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel (in Latin, Veni Emmanuel) is a lyrical paraphrase of these antiphons. The first letters of the titles, read backwards, form a Latin acrostic of “Ero Cras” which translates to “Tomorrow, I will come,” mirroring the theme of the antiphons.

To pray the O Antiphons as they are prayed in the Divine Office, begin with the Antiphon, then pray the Magnificat, then repeat the Antiphon.

Zacharias 8:19 records the tradition of fasting four times a year to focus on God through His creation:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.

The Catholic seasonal fasts are called Ember days (the word comes from the old Anglo-Saxon ymbren, a circuit or revolution), and they coincide roughly with the change of the seasons: the week between the third and fourth Sundays of Advent (Winter), between the first and second Sundays of Lent (Spring), between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday (Summer), and the week beginning on the Sunday after Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14 — Autumn). The days were inconsistent until Pope Innocent II fixed them at the Council of Clermont in 1095.

We fast and abstain on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of each Ember week.

The solemn fast of the three days in Ember Week, originally peculiar to the Roman Church, was afterwards borrowed by the other Latin dioceses. Pope St. Leo I explained the Ember Days saying that at the end of the year it is especially fitting that we dedicate the first fruits to the Divine Providence.

An ancient tradition reserved the ordinations of priests and deacons to the month of December, and the faithful, following a custom introduced by the Apostles themselves, felt constrained to unite with the bishop in prayer and fasting, in order to call down from God an abundance of priestly gifts upon the heads of those newly chosen to minister at the altar.

Formerly, after assembling, the procession of clergy and people, chanting the Litany, went from St. Peter in Vinculis to St. Mary Major by way of the Suburra, between the Viminal and the Esquiline hills. Today’s station — following the custom for Ember Wednesdays — is at St. Mary Major, in order that the new Levites may be placed under the heavenly patronage of her whom the Fathers of the Church sometimes call the “virgin-priest,” in whose temple the Incarnate Word Himself was anointed priest by the divine Paraclete.

German researchers claim to have cured an HIV patient using bone marrow from an AIDS-resistant donor. Writing in the medical journal Blood, they claim “[O]ur results strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved in this patient.”

More details here. Data is coming in every week proving that adult stem cells too are pluripotent and just as effective as — and often more effective than — those harvested from embryos, putting the lie to that popular debate canard.

From the 1945 Marian Missal:

“I will put enmities between thee and the woman.” In these words the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was announced to our first parents. It was to be the reversal of the friendship with the serpent contracted by Eve, when she listened to his voice and fell under his power. The second Eve was never to be under the power of the devil; the enmity between them was to admit of no possible exception. This involved the grace of being conceived immaculate. Mary’s Immaculate Conception was the foundation of all her graces. The absence of any stain or spot of sin distinguished her from all the rest of mankind. It distinguished her from the holiest of the Saints, since they, one and all, were sinners. Her perfect sinlessness was the source of all her glory and all her majesty; it was this which opened the door to the unlimited graces that she received from God; it was this that qualified her for her divine maternity and raise her to her throne as Queen of Heaven.

O Queen conceived without original sin,
pray for us who have recourse to thee.

This feast was established for the universal Church by Pope Pius IX when he proclaimed that from all eternity, the Triune Divinity chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the tabernacle of the Son of God. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed once and for all that it was unthinkable that Mary be defiled in any way by sin in any manner whatsoever. Thus, in that infinitesimal second that God created Mary He made her Immaculate. This grace, like all other graces since Adam and Eve’s fall, was given to Mary through the merits of her Divine Son Jesus. She stood alone as one free of the stain of original sin, redeemed not from the evil already present at birth, but from any evil that threatened this sacred temple known as the Mother of God.

This was confirmed in the infallible words of Pius IX,

The most holy Virgin Mary was, in the first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin.

Saint Ephrem first held this belief in the fourth century. Seven centuries later the crusaders brought this belief back to the Western Church from the Eastern Church in the Holy Land where, since 750, it had been celebrated on December 9 along with the feast of Saint Anne who had conceived the Blessed Mother.

In 1050 a feast honoring Mary’s conception was offered by Pope Leo IX and advanced greatly by the holy Doctor of the Church Saint Anselm. In the twelfth century the Franciscan Father Duns Scotus defended the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and was listed in the Roman Calendar in the year 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV. In 1708 Pope Clement XI made the conception of Our Lady a feast of obligation. Nearly 150 years later in 1854, Pius IX proclaimed it the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This interestingly followed the lead of the United States Bishops eight years earlier who had decreed on May 13, 1846 that the U.S. was consecrated to Mary’s Immaculate Conception and assigned December 8 as the official feast of their Heavenly patron. His Holiness gave full approval to the American Bishops on February 7, 1847. Just over ten years later, and four years after Pius IX’s infallible pronouncement “Ineffabilis Deus,” Our Lady herself confirmed this dogma at Lourdes when she proclaimed to the visionary Saint Bernadette Soubirous, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

For me, anyway. Courtesy of AmP Thomas Peters, via a reader in Australia:

And there you have it, folks.

Over on the Emerald Isle, the Bishops Conference is busy trying to decide whether to reinstate meatless Fridays, since so few people observe any form of penance anymore.

A bit of history first: The abstinence requirement still exists as Canon 1251, but in 1966, U.S bishops issued “Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence,” (.pdf) releasing American Catholics from the strict obligation to abstain under pain of sin, and other Episcopal Conferences quickly followed suit.

According to Canon 1253, which existed in 1966 as an amendment to the 1917 CIC, “The episcopal conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.”

The result of these pastoral Statements was that many Catholics were unable to decide which form of penance to observe, and thus did nothing; a natural human response when baffled by too many choices.

In the wake of Vatican II and along with so many other adjustments in liturgical and disciplinary law, this weakened Catholic faith and identity over time. A return to tradition here, in conjunction with the new ICEL translations, could repair much of the damage to faith wrought by abuse and confusion over the last 40 years.

Thus begins the Church’s Year. From Fr. Goffine’s book:

Advent is that solemn time, immediately preceding Christmas, instituted by the Church in order that we should, in the first place, meditate on the Incarnation of Christ, the love, patience and humility which He has shown us, and prove our gratitude to Him, because He came from the bosom of His heavenly Father into this valley of tears, to redeem us; secondly, that we may prepare ourselves by sincere repentance, fasting, prayer, alms-deeds, and other works pleasing to God, for the coming of Christ and His birth in our hearts, and thus participate in the graces which He has obtained for us; finally, that He may be merciful to us, when He shall come again as judge of the world. “Watch ye, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come;”  “Wherefore be you also ready; because at what hour you know not, the Son of man will come.”

He also offers advice as to what Christians ought to be doing during this Season of Advent:

They should recall, during these four weeks, the four thousand years in which the just under the Old Law expected and desired the promised Redeemer, think of those days of darkness in which nearly all nations were blinded by saran and drawn into the most horrible crimes, then consider their own sins and evil deeds and purify their souls from them by a worthy reception of the Sacraments, so that our Lord may come with His grace to dwell in their hearts and be merciful to them in life and in death. Further, to awaken in the faithful the feelings of repentance so necessary for the reception of the Savior in their hearts, the Church orders that besides the observance of certain fast days, the altar shall be draped in violet, that Mass shall be celebrated in violet vestments, that the organ shall be silent and no Gloria sung. Unjust to themselves, disobedient to the Church and ungrateful, indeed, to God are those Christians who spend this solemn time of grace in sinful amusements without performing any good works, with no longing for Christ’s Advent into their hearts.

There are six extra prayers for this day in the 1945 Marian Missal that were cut from the 1962 Missal: two extra Collects, two extra Secrets, and two extra Postcommunion prayers. The following is from the 1945 Mass (only the first Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion prayer appear in the 1962 Mass):

This Class III feast is celebrated on November 27 at the pleasure of the local ordinary, as it is a devotion and not a universal feast.

From the 1945 Marian Missal and 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia:

The devotion commonly known as that of the Miraculous Medal owes its origin to Zoe Labore, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, known in religion as Sister Catherine Labouré who was subsequently canonized. It was she to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared three separate times in the year 1830, at the mother-house of the community at Paris on Rue du Bac. The first of these apparitions occurred 18 July, the second 27 November, and the third a short time later. On the second occasion, Sister Catherine records that the Blessed Virgin appeared as if standing on a globe, and bearing a globe in her hands. As if from rings set with precious stones dazzling rays of light were emitted from her fingers. These, she said, were symbols of the graces which would be bestowed on all who asked for them. Sister Catherine adds that around the figure appeared an oval frame bearing in golden letters the words “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”; on the back appeared the letter M, surmounted by a cross, with a crossbar beneath it, and under all the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the former surrounded by a crown of thorns, and the latter pierced by a sword.

At the second and third of these visions a command was given to have a medal struck after the model revealed, and a promise of great graces was made to those who wear it when blessed. After careful investigation, Fr. Aladel, the spiritual director of Sister Catherine, obtained the approval of Monsignor de Quelen, Archbishop of Paris, and on June 30, 1832, the first medals were struck and with their distribution the devotion spread rapidly. One of the most remarkable facts recorded in connection with the Miraculous Medal is the conversion of a Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne of Strasburg, who had resisted the appeals of a friend to enter the Church. Ratisbonne consented, somewhat reluctantly, to wear the medal, and being in Rome, he entered, by chance, the church of Sant’ Andrea delle Fratte and beheld in a vision the Blessed Virgin exactly as she is represented on the medal; his conversion speedily followed. This fact has received ecclesiastical sanction, and is recorded in the office of the feast of the Miraculous Medal.

In 1847, Fr. Etienne, superior-general of the Congregation of the Mission, obtained from Pope Pius IX the privilege of establishing in the schools of the Sisters of Charity a confraternity under the title of the Immaculate Conception, with all the indulgences attached to a similar society established for its students at Rome by the Society of Jesus. This confraternity adopted the Miraculous Medal as its badge, and the members, known as the Children of Mary, wear it attached to a blue ribbon. On July 23, 1894, Pope Leo XIII, after a careful examination of all the facts by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, instituted a feast, with a special Office and Mass, of the Manifestation of the Immaculate Virgin under the title of the Miraculous Medal.

The Introit is from Exodus 13:9. The Collect is as follows:

The National Catholic Register has big news: now, a Catholic Audio Bible has been released, voiced by a star-studded cast!

Two years in the making, “Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible New Testament” brings together more than 70 actors, over 20 audio engineers and 100 media-development experts across three continents who amassed 10,000 production hours for this first-ever Catholic edition of the New Testament.

But a couple of corrections are called for here:

• It wasn’t “two years in the making,” it was four; and
• There’s no such thing as a “Catholic” New Testament.

Everything else in the article as stated is true, with the exception that they’re not finished recording the Old Testament: the Protestants released their own branded edition over a year ago as the “Word of Promise” audio Bible, using almost exactly the same cast. Of course, tackling the New Testament, since it’s shorter, is a much easier task, and it was necessary for the project’s non-Catholic financial benefactors to create brand recognition early on. Hence, one project but two labels.

It seems disingenuous to undertake such a Herculean effort and then market it to two different groups of people as though it was specifically intended all along to be just for them: This is not a Catholic audio Bible, it’s an “interfaith” effort (based on the New King James translation, by the way — at least that’s what it says on the Word of Promise website) cynically being marketed to Catholics as a Catholic feature.

The Protestants got Jim Caviezel to play Jesus; we’re stuck with the Desperate Housewives guy. What happened; did Caviezel leave the Church? Raymond Arroyo is listed as a producer on the Word of Promise website; so is Carl Amari. Thus, it is one and (at least nearly) the same project. But why was Caviezel replaced with McDonough for the “Catholic” branded edition? Was the entire project re-recorded in the RSV with mostly the same cast? If so, why?