S. Roberti Bellarmino Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris ~ Duplex

A request: please remember the Holy Father and his intentions today on his patronal feast.

 De VII die infra Octavam S. Joseph

Tues, 5/13/25:

Today is the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, B, C & D, under the 1954 (double) and 1962 (III class) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. White. Gloria. Paschal Alleluia. Credo (1954 only; for feasts of doctors and for the octave of St. Joseph). Preface of St. Joseph (et te in Festivitate) (1954)/Preface of Easter (1962). Ite. Under 1954, commemoration of the octave of St. Joseph. No commemorations under 1962.

Office: Ordinary office. White. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons (1954)/1 nocturn of 3 lessons (1962; II = II & III of occurring Scripture combined, III = short hagiography). Te Deum. Psalms of the feria with Paschaltide antiphon. All else from the common of a confessor bishop. Proper collect. Under 1954, commemoration of the octave of St. Joseph at Lauds. Omit suffrage (1954). (Source: LB236.)

 Collect

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, Who endowed blessed Robert, Your Bishop and Doctor, with wondrous learning and virtue to repel the deceits of error and to defend the rights of the Apostolic See, grant, by his merits and intercession, that we may ever grow in love of truth and that the hearts of the erring may return to the unity of Your Church.
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 Die VII infra Octavam Patrocinii St Joseph
God, Who in thine unspeakable foreknowledge didst choose thy blessed servant Joseph to be the husband of thine Own most holy Mother; mercifully grant that now that he is in heaven with thee, we who on earth do reverence him for our Defender, may worthily be holpen by the succour of his prayers to thee on our behalf;
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 5:13-19
At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples: Ye are the salt of the earth: But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? And so forth.

A Homily by St. Robert Bellarmine the Bishop
Concio 9, de probitate Doctorum Ecclesiae; ab initio
Just as in God, whom we venerate as one in the Trinity and three in the Unity, there are three things in particular which are especially clear: power, wisdom, and goodness; so also God, beloved listeners, that he might make his special friends and children, our fathers and teachers, very like unto himself and to be esteemed and admired by all nations, wished them to be in the highest degree powerful, wise, excellent, and holy. First, he furnished them with that power, by which they might do many evidently wonderful and extraordinary things, out of the usual course and order of nature, in regard to the elements, trees, brute beasts, and even to mankind. Then, he gave them such wisdom, that they saw not only the past and present, but they even foresaw the future long before, and predicted it. Finally, he enlarged their hearts with very great and burning charity, enabling them not only to enter whole-heartedly on their labours, but also to influence those whom they were about to convert, as well by their example and holy life, as by their preaching and miracles.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
May the sacrament we have received, O Lord, our God, enkindle in us the fire of love which flamed so ardently in blessed Robert that he spent himself unceasingly in defense of Your Church.
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 Die VII infra Octavam Patrocinii St Joseph
Refreshed at the fount of divine blessing, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that as thou dost gladden us by the protection of blessed Joseph, so by his merits and intercession thou woulds make us partakers of his heavenly glory.
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.