Second Sunday After Epiphany 18 January 1863

18 SUNDAY. Second after Epiphany THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS, double of the second class. Second prayers and last Gospel of the Sunday, third prayers (in Low Mass only) of St Prisca, Virgin and Martyr. Preface of Christmas. White. Second Vespers of the feast with commemoration of St Wolstan, the Sunday, and SS Marius and Companions, Martyrs. Plenary indulgence.

19 Monday. St Wolstan, Bishop Confessor, double. Commemoration of SS Marius, Martha, Audifax and Abacus, Martyrs. White.

20 Tuesday. SS Fabian and Sebastian, Martyrs, double. Red.

21 Wednesday. St Agnes, Virgin Martyr, double. Red.

22 Thursday. SS Vincent and Anastasius, Martyrs, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). Red.

23 Friday. The Espousals of the BVM, greater double. Second prayers of St Erementiara Virgin Martyr. Creed. Preface of the BVM. White. Abstinence. Plenary indulgence.

24 Saturday. St Timothy, Bishop Martyr, double. Red.

Where is the Feast of St Peter's Chair in Rome? Why are we not celebrating it on 18 January? Well, because the feast is a greater double, it has to be celebrated, but as it falls on a feast which is a double of the second class, it has to move to the first available day not already marked as a double or semidouble.  So we won't actually celebrate the feast until 3 February.  There will be a lot of this sort of thing as the year progresses.  (I won't copy out the rules of precedence yet, but if you are really, really, keen, I will at the end of the year.)

I wonder if St Wolstan will be celebrated in Worcester (never mind anywhere else)?  Will the Catholic schools have a celebratory morning and a half holiday?  Will the Archbishop of Birmingham turn up to reverence a great local Saint?

You will remember from last week's notes, that as Thursday's feast is only a semidouble, the options for second and third prayers are prescribed by the rubrics.

Otherwise, this is another quiet week until Friday, when we celebrate the feast of the Espousals of the BVM. This feast disappeared under Pius X and St Raymond of Pennafort was moved into the slot from his original feast day of 28 January.  I suppose there were people who thought that the feast of the Holy Family fits the same bill, but they were wrong.  In the same way as the Circumcision and the Baptism of Our Lord stress His willingness to undergo the same rituals as His people, however unnecessary they were for Him, this feast stresses His being born into a family which has been conformed to God's Law. The Epistle is Proverbs 8:22-35 as on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and the Gospel is Matthew 1:18-21 as on the Vigil of the Nativity.

St Peter's in Gloucester is served by its Missionary Rector, the Very Rev Leonard, Canon Calderbeck. On Sundays, Mass is at 8.30 and 10.30, and on Holydays at 8.00 and 9.15.  Mass on weekdays is at 8.15.  On Sunday evenings at 6.30, there are Night Prayers, a Lecture, and Benediction.  Catechism is at 3.00 pm on Sundays.  On Holydays, there is Rosary and Benediction at 7.30 pm.  A portion of the general cemetery is set apart for Catholic burials.  There is a convent of the Dames of the German Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at 3 Newland-villas on London-road.

All Saints Chapel on New-road in Stourbridge has the Rev Walter Keen as Missionary Rector. Please offer a prayer for the repose of the soul of this holy priest when you read his appeal.