Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost 1863

20 SUNDAY Seventeenth after Pentecost. The Seven Sorrows of the BVM, greater double. Second prayers and Last Gospel of the Sunday. Preface of the BVM. White. First Vespers of St Matthew, commemoration only of the Seven Sorrows. Red.  Plenary Indulgence.

21 Monday. (Feast of Devotion) St MATTHEW Apostle and Evangelist, double of the second class. Creed. Preface of the Apostles. Red. [In Diocese of Nottingham second prayers for the Bishop.]

22 Tuesday. St Thomas of Villanova, Bishop Confessor, double. Second prayers of St Maurice and Companions, Martyrs. White.

23 Wednesday.  St Linus, Pope Martyr, semidouble. Second prayers of St Thecla, Virgin Martyr. Third prayers A Cunctis. Red.

24 Thursday. Our Lady of Mercy, greater double. Creed. Preface of the BVM. White.

25 Friday.  Sts Eustace and Companions, Martyrs, double (transferred from 20 September). Red. Abstinence.  [In Diocese of Liverpool second prayers for the Bishop.]

26 Saturday. Of the Immaculate Conception, semidouble. Second prayers of Sts Cyprian and Justina, Martyrs. Third prayers Deus qui corda. White.

I regularly list parishes which include "Instruction" as one of their Sunday services  This is when the clergy fulfilled their duty to educate their parishioners on what the Church taught.  (The bizarre, late twentieth century, idea that the Mass itself was for instruction would have been laughed out of court.) Imagine what the priest will teach about this week's feasts: there are three of Our Lady: her seven sorrows, her mercy, and her immaculate conception.  (We haven't heard much about Our Lady of Mercy as we await the Synod, have we?  Can anybody guess why?)  We have St Linus, a Pope Martyr who is mentioned in the Creed and who, we can (fairly safely) believe is buried close to St Peter beneath the high altar of St Peter's Basilica. We have St Eustace, one of the fourteen Holy Helpers, scandalously removed from the calendar in 1970 simply because the inadequates working for Bugnini couldn't "prove" that he wasn't mythological (hold me down).  And we have a Spanish Bishop whose care for the Moors in Spain and the Indians in Mexico was such that he was excused attendance at the Council of Trent, as his works of mercy were too important to be allowed to lapse. And we have St Matthew, the miserable sinner whose conversion led to his becoming an Apostle and, literate man that he was among the Galilean fishermen, an Evangelist as well.

During my primary education in the 1960s, we knew what each feast day in the week represented, as well as what the readings for the Sunday were going to be.  This probably represented the best part of an hour in school each day.  We were instructed.

St Vincent of Paul in Liverpool is served by the Very Rev Canon Bernard O'Reily, assisted by the Revs Michael Donelly and Francis Bartley.  Sunday Masses are at 7.30, 8.30 and 9.45, with High Mass and Sermon at 11.00.  Catechism and Instruction are at 2.00, and Benediction for children is at 3.00. Baptisms 3.30 pm (and on weekdays at 8.30am). Rosary, Sermon and Benediction at 6.30. On Holydays Mass at 5.00, 7.30, and 8.30. High Mass at 10.00 Devotions and Benediction at 7.30. On weekdays, Masses at 7.00, 8.00 and 9.00. On Thursday evenings, Benediction at 7.30pm. On Friday evenings Stations of the Cross at 7.30pm.

What an edifying service Benediction for children must have been when their Anglican neighbours were being sent to Sunday School!

The influence of the Catholic families who had managed to hold on to land and other property, and to whom the Church in England and Wales owed its continued existence from 1650 to the time of Emancipation in 1829 waned rapidly.  There is still a Lord Stourton, the 27th Baron, though his subsidiary titles have moved about a bit.  The 18th Baron was a son of Stourton and Weld, and married to a Clifford. These families had maintained their Faith by marrying each other and hoping and trusting that theirs would not be the last Catholic generation.