How to Live More Liturgically Each and Every New Year | Part 2

In the first part, we explained that the liturgical year consists of both a temporal and a sanctoral cycle. The Temporal Cycle includes the Feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost and their associated cycles. The dates in this cycle are somewhat flexible because they are based on the date of Easter (Christmas is a notable exception as it always falls on December 25). The Sanctoral Cycle is fixed more closely to the secular calendar we are accustomed to because the Feasts of saints are always on the same day of the same month.

Some excellent resources to learn more about the liturgical year, and deepen one’s spiritual life, are: Meditations for Each Day of the Year by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, and the St. Andrew Missal (1945).

Part One also encouraged Catholics to study the liturgy before the introduction of the New Order of Mass (1969) and also to recover liturgical traditions prior to 1954. This year is noteworthy because many changes to the liturgical calendar began to be made after 1954. The most significant liturgical changes were those introduced to Holy Week.

Masses in Some Places

But we can advance deeper still. Even in the Roman Rite itself, various dioceses, countries, and religious orders keep some different Feast days. For instance, there is a fascinating list of movable Masses related to Our Lord’s Passion that are kept in some places and by some religious orders – but are not on the Church’s Universal Calendar. These Masses in some places can be found in the supplement of the traditional Roman Missal under “Missae pro Aliquibus Locis” (“Mass in Some Places”). Some of the Feast days in this list include:

• The Prayer of Christ (Tuesday after Septuagesima): This was kept by the Dominicans, who had separate Feasts for most of the Mysteries of the Rosary not already on the general calendar.
• The Commemoration of the Passion of Christ (Tuesday after Sexagesima): This was a Passionist Feast.
• The Feast of Reparation of Insults Offered to the Most Holy Sacrament (Thursday after Sexagesima).
• The Feast of the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ Deformed in the Passion (Tuesday after Quinquagesima): Mass said in reparation for the sins of Mardi Gras.
• The Sacred Crown of Thorns (Friday after Ash Wednesday): This was kept at Notre Dame in Paris and also at St Peter’s, which has two of the thorns.
• The Sacred Lance and Nails (Friday after the First Sunday in Lent): This was very popular in late medieval Germany and the Low Countries, under the title “Arma Domini,” but usually kept in Eastertide, on the Friday after Low Sunday.
• The Holy Shroud (Friday after the Second Sunday in Lent): This was kept in Turin, Italy.
• The Five Holy Wounds (Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent)
• The Precious Blood (Friday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent): This was the original date for the Precious Blood Fathers and also for Westminster Cathedral.

We could personally keep such Feast days alive in our own homes by reading about them and by praying the Collect from these Feasts in our morning and evening prayers. There are many such “Masses in Some Places” throughout the year.

Votive Masses

A weekday with no Feast associated with it is called a feria or ferial day (from the Latin feria, meaning “free day”). On such a day, in the traditional Rite, the priest generally offers the Mass of the previous Sunday or a Votive Mass of his choice. He may choose to follow the devotion attributed to that day of the week (for instance, on a ferial Wednesday he may offer a Votive Mass of St. Joseph since Wednesdays are devoted to St. Joseph) or he may offer a Votive Mass of Our Lady. But he may also offer a Votive Mass for any saint. He may also generally, exceptions aside, offer a Requiem Mass.

In our own holy lives, we might add to our morning prayers the Collects from various Votive Masses found in our hand missals. In so doing, we can better honor the Holy Angels each Tuesday, St. Joseph each Wednesday, the Institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood on Thursdays, and Our Lord’s Passion on Fridays.

Reading the Martyrology Daily

The Martyrology is an official liturgical book that contains a listing of saints (for each day) whose Feast days are celebrated throughout the liturgical year. It includes a brief account of their lives and, in the case of martyrs, the circumstances of their deaths. The purpose of the Martyrology is to provide a guide for the Church to commemorate and honor these holy men and women.

The Martyrology is traditionally prayed or chanted during the canonical hour of Prime. Prime is one of the hours of the Divine Office, which is a set of prayers and psalms recited by religious communities and clergy at various times throughout the day. Historically, Prime was the first hour of the day, typically prayed at sunrise. Sadly, it too was abolished after Vatican II.

We can go even deeper still by obtaining a copy of the pre-1955 Martyrology in English and reading the accounts of the saints in it for each day. You will be amazed at the number of saints who are canonized and who are not known. You will be awed by the accounts of their triumphs over cruelty and torture. And you may even be surprised to see when all the Old Testament Prophets are also honored as saints throughout the year. (You can also find this online at Divinum Officium, under ‘Prima.’)

Living out the Forgotten Catholic Customs

Beyond assisting at Mass and praying the Divine Office, we can and should observe the forgotten customs that further underscored authentic Catholic culture. Catholic culture is more than just going to Mass – it’s much more.

Catholic culture is built, for example, on fasting periods, assisting at Processions, having various items blessed at different times of the year (e.g., herbs on August 15, grapes on September 8th, wine on December 27th). It features days of festivity like during Martinmas and promotes family time and charitable works like visits to grandparents on Easter Monday. It is replete with food customs to celebrate the end of fasting periods and filled with special devotions during periods of penance.

It is our heritage. These traditions are our birthright. They are ours as much as they were our ancestors. We must reclaim them. We must spread them. We must love them and observe them. To this end, I hope you will pick up a copy of my newest book: Restoring Lost Customs of Christendom and strive to live out these customs each day this new year.

Make Catholic Resolutions for the New Year

Each year I have made what I call “Catholic Resolutions.”  These New Years Resolutions are not centered on secular goals, such as losing weight, eating more vegetables, or securing a raise. I make resolutions for all facets of my life, including these.

Rather, my resolutions each year are centered around my spiritual life.  I encourage all of you to make resolutions specifically geared toward improving your own Faith life and your own knowledge of the Faith.  One’s spiritual health needs the same care – if not more – than our physical, financial, or professional health. Here are 10 suggestions:

1. Pray the Rosary every day, if you are out of the habit of doing this.
2. Pray Lauds, Vespers, and Compline (from the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Divine Office) every day.
3. Say a prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory every day, such as the St Gertrude Prayer. Getting a copy of The Purgatorian Manual: Containing Spiritual Reading and Prayers for Every Day of the Month is also an excellent idea.
4. Attend Mass one day extra a week in addition to Sunday. And if you have fallen away from Mass, start going weekly again.
5. Make it a habit to go to Confession every two weeks. Ensure that you are sincere and actually detest your sins and desire to amend your life.
6. Fulfill the First Friday Devotion as well as the First Saturday Devotion every month.
7. Start wearing the Brown Scapular if you do not already. But ensure you are properly enrolled by a priest.
8. Add additional days of penance to your life. Can you observe the vigils of the apostles as fast days? What about all 40 days of Lent or the 40 days of fasting, penance, and prayer leading up to Christmas? There are many venerable ways we can practice penance this year and fulfill Our Lady’s call for “Penance, penance, penance!”
9. Make it a point to learn much more about the Faith. For example, CatechismClass.com has an ideal Adult Course just for this purpose and there are numerous audio courses offered by the St. Vincent Ferrer Foundation.
10. Do you struggle with certain sins or addictions? What actions do I need to take to really conquer them?

May Our Lord grant all of us a most blessed new year as we seek to go deeper into the Church’s liturgical life this year!