First Sunday of Lent 1863

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22 SUNDAY. First of Lent, semidouble. Violet. First Vespers of St Peter Damian Bishop Confessor Doctor (O Doctor), commemoration of the Sunday. White. 

23 Monday. Vigil. St Peter Damian, Bishop Confessor Doctor, double. Second prayers of the first Monday in Lent. Third prayers of the Vigil of St Matthias. Creed. White.

24Tuesday. (Feastday of Devotion) ST MATTHIAS, Apostle, double of the second class. Creed. Preface of the Apostles. Red.

25 Ember-Wednesday. St Peter's Chair at Antioch, greater double (transferred from 22 February). Second prayers of St Paul the Apostle. Creed. Preface of the Apostles. White.

26 Thursday. Feria. Second prayers A Cunctis. Third prayers Omnipotens.  Violet.

27 Ember-Friday. The Lance and Nails of OUR LORD, greater double. Second prayers and last Gospel of the feria. Creed. Preface of the Cross. Red. Plenary Indulgence.

28 Ember-Saturday. Second prayers A Cunctis. Third prayers Omnipotens.  Feria. Violet.

We did Ember Days in Advent here, so I won't repeat myself.  This is a pretty straightforward week. The feast of St Peter's Chair at Antioch (about which I wrote here) should have been celebrated on Sunday, but because Lenten Sundays are privileged, has been moved to Ember Wednesday instead, and as a feast of St Peter, includes a commemoration of St Paul. The Friday theme of the sufferings of Our Lord continues with a commemoration of the implements which caused specific and targeted piercings of His flesh, unlike the crown of thorns which was a more random act of horror.

The Secret prayer of the First Sunday of Lent is ancient enough to say that the first Sunday is in fact the first day of Lent, the prayer dating as it does from before the days from Ash Wednesday and the following Thursday, Friday and Saturday were tacked on to the beginning to make the forty day days up.  Bugnini and the Consilium, proud of this little bit of knowledge, and noting that non-Latin Rite Catholic Churches did not have this addition, proposed to "unLent" these four days. Pope Paul VI, who had a clearer idea of what people would think refused to allow the four days to be eliminated: "... now they have been accepted by all the peoples who follow the Roman Rite, it is not a good idea to suppress them, especially if the rite of the imposition of the ashes is to be observed on the Wednesday before the first Sunday, as is now the case". Stop and think: the Consilium "experts" knew that the four days had been introduced early in the seventh century, but not that the six week Lent itself probably only dates from the early fifth century: before that it was much shorter. And not knowing how the start of Lent was marked when it began on the first Sunday, they wanted to keep the imposition of the ashes on Ash Wednesday (or at the very least had not proposed an alternative), even though that ceremony would be shorn of any significance, falling, as it now would, in their new Ordinary Time rather than the season of Septuagesima. 

How could such clueless people have reached such a position of power?  Or perhaps better, who pulled what strings to get them there?

In Newmarket, the parish of Our Lady Immaculate and St Ethelreda is served by the Rev Thomas McDonald.  Sunday Mass is celebrated at 11.00 with a Sermon. Catechetical Instruction is at 4.00 pm, with Compline, Sermon and Benediction at 6.30.  On Holydays and weekdays, Mass is at 8.30. On Thursdays, the Rosary is said at 7.30 pm, followed by a Lecture and Benediction.  Confessions are on Saturdays and the eves of Holydays from 6.30 pm.

There is a boarding school for young ladies in Gloucester. Click on the image for a better view.

(For young people: a guinea is £1.05; 1l 11s 6d is a guinea and a half;  2l 2s is two guineas. 10s 6d is half a guinea. 15s is 75p. 2s 6d is 12.5p, and 2s is 10p. A guinea is a clever way to play on people's snobbery and make them pay a 5% surcharge on everything. And, it seems, men are worth a third more than women for teaching pianoforte and singing.)