S Benedicti Abbatis ~ Duplex majus

Commemoratio: Feria Sexta infra Hebdomadam II in Quadragesima

Fri, 3/21/25:

Today is the feast of St. Benedict, Abbott, under the 1954 (double major) rubrics. Mass: Os justi of an abbot. White. Gloria. Gradual/Tract. Omit Credo. Preface of Lent. Ite. Commemoration and Last Gospel of the Lenten feria. Under 1954, in parish churches, the Mass of the Lenten feria may be offered at private (low) Masses, either in place of the Mass of the feast (if only one Mass is offered) or as a second Mass. Station church at St. Vitalis. Violet. Omit Gloria. Gradual. Tract with genuflection at Adjuva nos. Omit Credo. Preface of Lent. Prayer over the people. Benedicamus. Commemoration of St. Benedict. In cathedrals, monasteries, etc., the festal Mass of St. Benedict is sung after Terce as above, omitting commemoration of the Lenten feria. The Mass of the Lenten feria is sung after None as above, omitting commemoration of the feast and with the seasonal orations A cunctis and Omnipotens. Office: Ordinary office. White. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons (1st nocturn = Laudemus viros of the feast, lesson IX = of the feria). Te Deum. Psalms and antiphons of the feria (Lauds = schema I). All else from the common of a confessor not a bishop. Collect Intercessio nos of an abbot. At Lauds, commemoration of the Lenten feria (proper Benedictus antiphon and collect). Omit suffrage. No displaced psalm added at Prime. (LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Benedict was born of a noble family at Norcia, about the year of our Lord 480, and studied letters at Rome. Desiring to give himself altogether to Christ Jesus, he betook himself to a very deep cave at the place now called Subiaco. In this place he lay hid for three years, unknown to all except the monk Romanus, by means of whom he received the necessaries of life. While he was in the cave at Subiaco, the devil one day assailed him with an extraordinary storm of impure temptation, and to get it under, he rolled himself in brambles till his whole body was lacerated, and the sting of pain drove out the sallies of lust. At last the fame of his holiness spread itself abroad from the desert, and some monks came to him for guidance, but the looseness of their lives was such that they could not bear his exhortations, and they plotted together to poison him in his drink. When they gave him the cup, he made the sign of the Cross over it, whereupon it immediately broke, and Benedict left that monastery, and retired to a desert place alone. 

(Breviarium Romanum)

Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
May the intercession of the blessed Abbot Benedicti, commend us to You, O Lord, so that through his merits we may obtain that which we cannot accomplish by our own.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration Feria Sexta infra Hebdomadam II in Quadragesima
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that with the sacred fast to purify us, we may with sincere hearts reach the coming feast.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.