S. Stephani Protomartyris ~ Duplex II. classis

Commemoratio: Die II infra Octavam Nativitatis

Friday, 12/26/25:

Today is the feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr, under the 1954 (double of the II class with simple octave) and 1962 (II class) rubrics.

Mass: Pro populo. Proper Mass. Red. Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Credo. Preface of the Nativity. Proper Communicantes for Christmas in the Canon. Celebrant bows his head at the mention of St. Stephen's name in the Canon. Ite. Commemoration of the octave of Christmas (orations of the Mass of Christmas Day).

Office: Under 1954, festal office. Red. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons. Te Deum. At Matins, psalms and antiphons from the common of one martyr outside Paschaltide. At Lauds and the hours, psalms of Sunday (Prime = 53, 118.1, 118.2) with proper antiphons. All else from the proper. Proper collect. Commemoration of the octave of Christmas at Lauds. Omit suffrage. (LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Introitus
Ps 118:23; 118:86; 118:23
Sedérunt príncipes, et advérsum me loquebántur: et iníqui persecúti sunt me: ádjuva me, Dómine, Deus meus, quia servus tuus exercebátur in tuis justificatiónibus.
Ps 118:1
Beati immaculáti in via, qui ámbulant in lege Dómini,
V. Glória Patri, ...

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, so to imitate what we revere, that we may learn to love even our enemies; for we celebrate the heavenly birthday of him who knew how to pray for his very persecutors to our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

Let us pray.
For Octave of the Nativity
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the new birth, in the flesh, of Your only-begotten Son may deliver us whom the bondage of old keeps under the yoke of sin.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 23:34-39
At that time, Jesus said to the scribes and pharisee: I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify. And so on,

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem.
Book IV, Commentary on Matth. XXIII
We have already remarked that the Lord's words, Fill ye up the measure of your fathers, 32, refer in the first place to Himself, Whom the Jews afterwards put to death. In a secondary sense it may likewise be applied to His disciples, of whom He saith, Behold, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes. Here observe that, according to the Apostle writing to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. xii. 4, there are diversities of gifts among Christ's followers. Some are Prophets of that which is to come; some are wise men, who know the due season for rebuke and exhortation; some are Scribes learned in the law. And of these they stoned Stephen, slew Paul with the sword, crucified Peter, and scourged the Disciples mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. v, 40; xvi, 23.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
May the sacrament we have received aid us, O Lord; and by the intercession of blessed Stephen, Your Martyr, may it sustain us under Your everlasting protection.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
For Octave of the Nativity
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the Saviour of the world, born this day, Who is the author of our birth in godliness, may bestow on us immortal life.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

Midnight Mass: "Dóminus dixit ad me: Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te."

 

Introitus
Ps 2:7.
Dóminus dixit ad me: Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te.
Ps 2:1
Quare fremuérunt gentes: et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?
V. Glória Patri, ...

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, Who have brightened this most holy night with the splendor of the true light, grant, we beseech You, that we may know in heaven the joy of that light which we have known mystically on earth.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 2:1-14
At that time, it came to pass that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory (the Great)
8th on the Gospels
"By God's mercy we are to say three Masses today, so that there is not much time left for preaching; but at the same time the occasion of the Lord's Birthday itself obliges me to speak a few words. I will first ask why, when the Lord was to be born, the world was enrolled? Was it not to herald the appearing of Him by Whom the elect are enrolled in the book of life? Whereas the Prophet saith of
the reprobate: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. Ps. lxviii. 29. Then, the Lord is born in Bethlehem. Now the name Bethlehem signifieth the House of Bread, and thus it is the birth-place of Him Who hath said: I am the Living Bread, Which came down from heaven. John vi. 51. We see then that this name of Bethlehem was prophetically given to the place where Christ was born, because it was there that He was to appear in the flesh by Whom the souls of the faithful are fed unto life eternal. He was born, not in His Mother's house, but away from home. And this is a mystery, showing that this our mortality into which He was born was not the home of Him Who is begotten of the Father before the worlds."

“O God, You Who gladden us year after year with the expectation of our redemption, grant that we, who now welcome with joy Your only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may also gaze upon Him without fear when He comes as our judge, our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Collect of the Vigil of Nativity)

What is this indescribable joy with which we greet all the Christmases of our life on earth

Anticipating His coming even before the first days of advent preparation

The knowledge that God loves us

The evidence of faith

The fact that He joins His divinity to our humanity on this night of the nativity of the Lord

In such a way that His union with us may never be broken by sin or any other weakness of our flesh

He humbly entrusts Himself to us in this and in every holy Mass of our lives: Eucharist, the same true and real Presence witnessed on that holy night of His birth over 2,000 years ago by Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the angels

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.”

But with His birth, Risking that He may not be loved with the worship and adoration which is His due by right as our God

Even suffering so often the outrages and sacrileges of unbelievers and the pains inflicted by the baptized who betray Him

But we wish this night through our worship of the newborn Lord to greet Him with this joy which is evidence of our Holy Faith

“The grace of God our Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world; looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Epistle)

We promise, this Christmas and always, to hold Him up before an unbelieving world, and to call every creature to fall down in worship, restoring to creation the rightly ordered love of God which grants also to us the true charity which only will bring peace on Earth and which only can be the foundation of the love the world seeks: rooted in God whose mercy in the newborn Savior will ever be the only source of true hope, hope which finds in His humility the true lowliness which is ours by nature and the evidence of His condescension: the King of all will serve by making Himself our gift.

What kind of gift? What treasure? The greatest possible to be imagined in this mortal flesh: the Eternal life of God through grace.

Yes: this Christmas and every day let us seek Him and knowing Him here in this gift of His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, each moment another Christmas; let us know and believe in the true life He shares with us, that of God without beginning and end;

Thus may our Christmas joy be full at this Christmas and always.

“O God, Who have brightened this most holy night with the splendor of the true light, grant, we beseech You, that we may know in heaven the joy of that light which we have known mystically on earth.” (Collect of Christmas Day)

Merry Christmas!

In Vigilia Nativitatis Domini

 ~ Duplex I. classis

Wednesday, 12/24/25:

Today is the vigil of Christmas under the 1954 (privileged vigil of the I class) and 1962 (I class vigil) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. Violet. Omit Gloria. Gradual. Omit Alleluia. Omit Credo. Common Preface (1962: optional Preface of Advent). Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). No commemorations or additional prayers under both sets of rubrics.

Today, the altar may be decorated with flowers. At solemn Mass, deacon and subdeacon wear dalmatic and tunicle, respectively, instead of folded chasubles under the 1954 rubrics.

Office: Under 1954, Matins is of simple rite. Proper Invitatory (Hodie scietis) and hymn (Verbum supernum). Under both rubrics, Matins of 1 nocturn of 3 lessons (all proper). At Matins, psalms and antiphons of the feria. At Lauds and the hours, the Office is of double rite under the 1954 rubrics. Psalms of Sunday (Lauds = schema I; Prime = 53, 118.1, 118.2) with proper antiphons. All else from the proper for the vigil. Collect of the vigil. No commemorations at Lauds. Omit suffrage (1954). (LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Introitus
Exod 16:6; 16:7
Hódie sciétis, quia véniet Dóminus et salvábit nos: et mane vidébitis glóriam ejus.
Ps 23:1
Dómini est terra, et plenitúdo ejus: orbis terrárum, et univérsi, qui hábitant in eo.
V. Glória Patri, ...

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, You Who gladden us year after year with the expectation of our redemption, grant that we, who now welcome with joy Your only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may also gaze upon Him without fear when He comes as our judge, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 1:18-21
When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. And so on.

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem.
Book of Commentaries, on Matth. i.
Why was the Lord conceived of an espoused virgin rather than of a free? First, for the sake of the genealogy of Mary, which we have obtained by that of Joseph. Secondly, because she was thus saved from being stoned by the Jews as an adulteress. Thirdly, that Himself and His mother might have a guardian on their journey into Egypt. To these, Ignatius, the martyr of Antioch, has added a fourth reason namely, that the birth might take place unknown to the devil, who would naturally suppose that Mary had conceived by Joseph.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Grant us, we beseech You, O Lord, to begin a new life with this commemoration of the birth of Your only-begotten Son, Who gives us food and drink in His heavenly sacrament.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

S. Thomæ Apostoli ~ Duplex II. classis

Tuesday, 12/23/25:

In USA

Today is the feast of St. Thomas, Ap, under the 1954 (double of the II class) and 1962 (II class) rubrics.

Mass: Pro populo. Proper Mass. Red. Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Credo. Preface of the Apostles. Celebrant bows head at mention of St. Thomas's name in the Canon. Commemorate Advent feria.  Ite.

The Mass of St. Thomas is obligatory today; it is not permissible for the Mass of the Ember Saturday to be said under either set of rubrics.

Office: Under 1954, festal office. Red. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons. Te Deum. Psalms and antiphons at Matins from the common of apostles. At Lauds and the hours, psalms of Sunday (Lauds = schema I; Prime = 53, 118.1, 118.2) with antiphons from the common of apostles. All else from the common. Proper Benedictus antiphon. Proper collect.

Introitus
Ps 138:17
Mihi autem nimis honoráti sunt amíci tui, Deus: nimis confortátus est principátus eórum.
Ps 138:1-2.
Dómine, probásti me et cognovísti me: tu cognovísti sessiónem meam et resurrectiónem meam.
V. Glória Patri, ...

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O Lord, grant us, we beseech You, to glory in the feast-day of blessed Thomas, Your Apostle, that we may be helped continually by his patronage and imitate his faith with a devotion like his.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration Feria III infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus
Put forth Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and delay not: and with Your great might come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins may be hastened by Your merciful goodness.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 20:24-29
In that time, Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great.
26th on the Gospels
Dearly beloved brethren, what is it in this passage which particularly claimeth our attention? Think ye that it was by accident that this chosen Apostle was not with them when Jesus came? or, when he came, heard? or, when he heard, doubted? or, when he doubted, felt? or when he had felt, believed? All these things were not accidental, but Providential. It was a wonderful provision of Divine mercy, that this incredulous disciple, by thrusting his fingers into the bodily Wounds of his Master, should apply a remedy to the spiritual wounds of unbelief in our souls. The doubts of Thomas have done us more good than the faith of all the disciples that believed. While he feeleth his way to faith, our minds are freed from doubt, and settled in faith.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Merciful God, abide with us, and through the intercession of Your blessed Apostle Thomas, mercifully safeguard the gifts You have given us.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration Feria III infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus
Having received Your gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, that each partaking of this sacrament may increase within us its saving effect.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

S. Francis Xavier Cabrini

In the U.S., today is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, V (double of the II class); under the 1962 rubrics, this feast is transferred to November 13 due to the 1960 Code prohibiting local feasts that are not of the I class from being observed between December 17 and 23 inclusive.

Mass: Proper Mass. White. Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Omit Credo. Common Preface. Ite. Commemoration of the Advent feria (prayers of the preceding Sunday).

Office: Festal office. White. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons. Te Deum. At Matins, psalms and antiphons from the common of virgins. At Lauds and the hours, psalms of Sunday (schema I; Prime = 53, 118.1, 118.2) with antiphons from the common of virgins. All else from the common of virgins. Proper hymn at Lauds. Proper collect. At Lauds, commemoration

***

S. Thomæ Apostoli ~ Duplex II. classis
Tempora: Feria II infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus

Introitus
Ps 138:17
Mihi autem nimis honoráti sunt amíci tui, Deus: nimis confortátus est principátus eórum.
Ps 138:1-2.
Dómine, probásti me et cognovísti me: tu cognovísti sessiónem meam et resurrectiónem meam.
V. Glória Patri, ...

8

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O Lord, grant us, we beseech You, to glory in the feast-day of blessed Thomas, Your Apostle, that we may be helped continually by his patronage and imitate his faith with a devotion like his.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration Feria II infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus
Put forth Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and delay not: and with Your great might come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins may be hastened by Your merciful goodness.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 20:24-29
In that time, Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great.
26th on the Gospels
Dearly beloved brethren, what is it in this passage which particularly claimeth our attention? Think ye that it was by accident that this chosen Apostle was not with them when Jesus came? or, when he came, heard? or, when he heard, doubted? or, when he doubted, felt? or when he had felt, believed? All these things were not accidental, but Providential. It was a wonderful provision of Divine mercy, that this incredulous disciple, by thrusting his fingers into the bodily Wounds of his Master, should apply a remedy to the spiritual wounds of unbelief in our souls. The doubts of Thomas have done us more good than the faith of all the disciples that believed. While he feeleth his way to faith, our minds are freed from doubt, and settled in faith.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Merciful God, abide with us, and through the intercession of Your blessed Apostle Thomas, mercifully safeguard the gifts You have given us.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration Feria II infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus
Having received Your gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, that each partaking of this sacrament may increase within us its saving effect.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Dominica IV Adventus: "Genímina viperárum, quis osténdit vobis fúgere a ventúra ira? "

 ~ Semiduplex Dominica II. classis

Sun, 12/21/25

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent under the 1954 (semi-double Sunday of the II class) and 1962 (I class Sunday) rubrics. (NB: The feast of St. Thomas, Ap, is transferred to tomorrow, December 22, under the 1954 rubrics outside the U.S. [see below]; this feast is omitted entirely this year under the 1962 rubrics.)

Mass: Proper Mass. Violet. Omit Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Credo. Preface of the Most Holy Trinity (1962: optional Preface of Advent). Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). Under 1954, 2nd prayer Deus qui de beatae of Our Lady. 3rd prayer either Eccleisae tuae for the Church or Deus omnium for the pope. No commemorations or additional prayers under 1962.

Office: Sunday office. Violet. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons (1954)/1 nocturn of 3 lessons (1962; II = II & III of the old Breviary combined, III = lesson VII of the old Breviary). Omit Te Deum. At Matins, psalms of Sunday with Advent antiphons. At Lauds and the hours, psalms of Sunday (Lauds = schema I) with proper antiphons of the 4th Sunday of Advent. All else from the proper. Proper Benedictus antiphon Nolite timere for December 21. Collect of the Sunday. No commemorations at Lauds. Omit suffrage (1954). Preces at Prime (1954 only). At Prime, V = Qui venturus es in mundum. (Source: LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Introitus
Isa 45:8
Roráte, cœli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem
Ps 18:2
Cœli enárrant glóriam Dei: et ópera mánuum ejus annúntiat firmaméntum.
V. Glória Patri,  ...

ollect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Put forth Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and delay not: and with Your great might come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins may be hastened by Your merciful goodness.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen

Let us pray.
Commemoration St. Thomas the Apostle
O Lord, grant us, we beseech You, to glory in the feast-day of blessed Thomas, Your Apostle, that we may be helped continually by his patronage and imitate his faith with a devotion like his.

de S. Maria Advent
O God, Who, by the message of an Angel, willed to take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, your suppliants, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with You.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory (the Great)
20th on the Gospels
John said unto the multitude, that came forth to be baptised of him: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" The wrath to come in one sense signifieth the great vengeance of the Latter Day the sinner that repenteth not of his sin now, will have no mean whereby to flee from punishment then. Let us remark that addressing evil children copying the example of evil parents, the Baptist calleth them a generation of vipers in that they were envious at the righteous, and persecuted them; that they repaid evil for evil; that they hunted out ways of harming their neighbours, in all these things following the pattern of carnal parents, the prophet likeneth them to a venomous brood hatched from a venomous stock.

We also have sinned, we have fallen into wicked habits. What must we do, if we would flee from the wrath to come? Let us hear John. Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. In which words let us remark that the Friend of the Bridegroom demandeth not only fruits of repentance, but fruits worthy of repentance. The former are one thing, and the latter another. In considering then what are fruits worthy of repentance, we may remark that if we had done nothing unlawful we might have had free use of things which are lawful, and been able to sanctify ourselves without abstaining from indulgence in the things of the world.

But if any one, for example, hath fallen into fornication, or perhaps, into what is much worse, adultery, he ought to make up for his lawless pleasure by abstaining in some degree from lawful enjoyments. He that hath sinned less is not bound to mortify himself as much as he that hath sinned more, nor he that is innocent like him that is guilty. Let every one hearing these words bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, proceed to judge himself by his own conscience, and the more he perceiveth that he hath sinned, the greater penance let him do.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Having received Your gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, that each partaking of this sacrament may increase within us its saving effect.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
Commemoration St. Thomas the Apostle
Merciful God, abide with us, and through the intercession of Your blessed Apostle Thomas, mercifully safeguard the gifts You have given us.

de S. Maria Advent
May this Communion, O Lord, cleanse us of sin, and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, may it make us sharers of heavenly healing.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.