Traditional Catholic evening devotional prayers to close your day with your mind and tongue on our Lord! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Begin and end each day with prayer. This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office evening prayers.
16 August 2026
Second Vespers of the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
From the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.
Archbishop Laicises Priest Over Alleged Prophecies Calling Francis and Leo ‘Usurpers’
Fr John Mary Foster of the Mission Of Divine Mercy in Texas, USA, has been excommunicated in relation to unapproved alleged Marian apparitions.
Summa Contra Gentiles, Book II: LV That Intellectual Substances Are Incorruptible
From Contemplating History
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274), was a Doctor of the Church, Philosopher, Theologian, Jurist, Dominican Friar, and Priest. Known as Doctor Angelicus "Angelic Doctor," and the Doctor Communis "Universal Doctor" his writings serve as a defense and proof of the validity of Christ's authority over all. The Summa contra Gentiles (also known as Liber de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores infidelium, "Book on the truth of the Catholic faith against the errors of the unbelievers"). The Summa contra Gentiles consists of four books. The structure of Saint Thomas's work is designed to proceed from general philosophical arguments for monotheism, to which Muslims and Jews are likely to consent even within their own respective religious traditions, before progressing to the discussion of specifically Christian doctrine.
Book II is dedicated to the Creation (in other words, the physical universe, everything which exists).
Whether you are a history enthusiast, a student of religion, or simply curious about the impact of the Roman Catholic Church on the world, this playlist is designed to provide an informative and engaging journey through its captivating past. Subscribe to the Contemplating History channel for more educational content and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of history.
AI: Why Is the Pope Talking About Robots?
From Catholic Central
š¤Can artificial intelligence ever replace what makes us human? Why is the Pope writing about AI?
Artificial intelligence is changing the world faster than ever, but what does the Catholic Church have to say about it?
In this episode of Catholic Central, we explore Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its timely message about AI, technology, human dignity, creativity, relationships, and the future of humanity. Rather than rejecting technological progress, the Pope invites us to ask a deeper question:
What kind of people are we becoming as technology becomes more powerful?
Whether you're Catholic, curious about Christianity, interested in ethics, or simply wondering how AI is reshaping our lives, this episode offers a thoughtful and hopeful perspective that goes beyond fear or hype.
You'll discover:
✳️ What Pope Leo XIV says about artificial intelligence
✳️ Why the Catholic Church is engaging with AI and emerging technology
✳️ How AI impacts human dignity, work, creativity, and relationships
✳️ Why compassion, love, and moral responsibility can never be automated
✳️ What it means to remain fully human in the age of intelligent machines
At Catholic Central, we explain the Catholic faith in a way that's approachable, honest, and relevant, even if you've never set foot inside a church.
What do you think?
Can AI ever replace uniquely human qualities like love, creativity, empathy, or faith? Let us know in the comments!
When Was Anne Boleyn Born?
From History Calling
Details of the BIRTH OF ANNE BOLEYN are hazy to say the least. Was she born in 1501 or 1507? Despite being the second wife of Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I and one of the most amazing women of history, there is much we don't know about this famous Tudor Queen and at the time of Anne Boleyn's execution at the Tower of London, no one is quite sure how old she was. Find out why historians can’t agree on the question 'when was Anne Boleyn born' and see the letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Boleyn, which should have solved the issue of 'how old was Anne Boleyn', but which throws up more problems than it solves. Learn about her life on the continent with Margaret of Austria, Queen Mary Tudor and Queen Claude of France, her dalliances with Lord Henry Percy and the poet Thomas Wyatt and of course, about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's affair which led to the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
Mary Who Will Welcome Pope Leo Might Have Her Most Interesting Title
The Blessed Virgin is Patroness of many countries, but I'll grant tht Her title as Patroness of Uruguay is certainly unique!
From Aleteia
By Daniel Esparza
When Pope Leo XIV visits the city of Florida, Uruguay, in November, he will pray before a 400-year-old statue that watched over the birth of a nation.Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay from November 6 to 8 — his first trip to Latin America as pontiff, and the first papal visit to the country since John Paul II went in 1988. His itinerary includes three cities: Montevideo, PaysandĆŗ, and Florida. That last stop carries a weight that non-Uruguayans will not recognize. Florida — a quiet city of around 35,000 people in the geographic heart of the country — is home to the Cathedral Basilica of Nuestra SeƱora de los Treinta y Tres, where the patroness of Uruguay has been venerated for nearly four centuries. Her name — Our Lady of the Thirty-Three — tells a story that belongs equally to faith and to national history.
The image itself is small: a wooden statue barely 16 inches tall, carved in the early 17th century and brought to the RĆo de la Plata region by Franciscan missionaries. It was originally venerated in the town of Las VĆboras, on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River, where it quickly became the center of a thriving popular devotion among both indigenous communities and Spanish settlers. Miracles were reported, and so pilgrims came. The statue acquired the reputation that small Marian images in the Americas so often acquire: a presence more powerful than its humble form suggests.
The name “Thirty-Three” arrived two centuries later. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan patriots — the Treinta y Tres Orientales — crossed the Uruguay River under the command of Juan Antonio Lavalleja, launching the campaign that would eventually lead to independence from Brazil. Before embarking, the men commended their mission to the Virgin. Their crossing succeeded, independence eventually followed, and the small wooden statue became, in the national memory, the Madonna who had watched over the birth of a country.
Pope Pius IX formally declared her patroness of Uruguay in 1857, a recognition confirmed by successive popes. The image was eventually moved to Florida, where the cathedral bearing her title houses her today. A city to the east of the country took her name — Treinta y Tres — as a permanent reminder. Her feast day is November 21, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — just days after Leo XIV’s visit.
Uruguay is the most secular country in the continent, with the lowest percentage of Catholics in Latin America — only 36% of the population — a figure that makes the depth of popular devotion to Our Lady of the Thirty-Three all the more striking. She is venerated not only by the faithful but by Uruguayans of various backgrounds as a symbol of national identity: of a moment when 33 men trusted their lives and their cause to something larger than themselves.
Dan Snow Tests 1,000 Years of Deadly Medieval Weapons
From Chronicle – Medieval History Documentaries
What was life really like for the ordinary soldier on the front line of history? Historian Dan Snow visits the world-renowned Royal Armouries in Leeds to get hands-on with iconic frontline weapons across a thousand years of military history. From the brutal cutting power of 9th-century Anglo-Saxon pattern-welded swords and the devastating rate of fire of the English Longbow, to the game-changing firepower of the Brown Bess musket and Vickers Machine Gun. Discover how these legendary weapons were operated, how they impacted the human body, and how they defined the course of famous European battles.
Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | August
Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I hope these prayers increase your devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this month and draw you closer to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ. Begin each day with morning prayer! This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office evening prayers.
Never Marry Outside a Church Without This Permission — 6 Catholic Wedding Mistakes
From Totus Catholica
Most Catholics believe a wedding is a celebration the couple designs around their own love story. Catholic wedding rules say something stranger. A wedding is a liturgy that belongs to the whole Church, and the couple step into it. They do not write it. Almost everyone watching has done at least one of these six things, and nobody in that room was being rebellious. The priest was not being difficult. They simply did not know the difference between a beautiful custom and an approved one. So here are all six, each with the exact document, so you can check every word yourself.
This is older than the Church. In Jewish law the first stage of marriage is kiddushin, from a root meaning to be set apart, made holy, and the second stage is nissuin. That instinct, that marrying is a setting apart, sits underneath everything the Church still does at a wedding, which is why she does not need a couple to invent the meaning. She already gave it to them. The Book of Tobit shows the rest. Tobiah and Sarah faced a marriage haunted by real fear and did not reach for a charm. He did exactly what the angel Raphael instructed, then turned to her and said, let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us. Magic is when the object is thought to do the work and God becomes unnecessary. If you are engaged or planning to be, talk to your parish early and let the rite and the Eucharist carry the day.
In this video:
• Why the Order of Celebrating Matrimony gives couples no option to write their own words of consent
• The unity candle's origin in the mid 1970s and a 1981 soap opera wedding, and why Toledo and Harrisburg ban it
• Why Wagner's Bridal Chorus and Mendelssohn's Wedding March are treated as theatrical pieces
• Canon 1118 on beach and garden weddings, and why unlawful is not the same as invalid
• What the Church actually does approve, the arras, the lazo, and the kiss nobody legislated
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 Why a Catholic Wedding Is a Liturgy
0:57 Writing Your Own Wedding Vows
3:12 The Unity Candle's Real Origin
5:37 Non-Biblical Readings at the Ambo
6:36 Here Comes the Bride and the Wedding March
8:29 Getting Married Outside a Church
9:43 Rice, Veils, and Speak Now
š SCRIPTURE REFERENCED
• Tobit, the wedding night of Tobiah and Sarah: they burn what the angel Raphael prescribed, then stop and pray.
• John, the wedding at Cana: one of the readings the wedding lectionary already gives you.
• Ephesians 5: St. Paul calls marriage a great mystery reflecting Christ and the Church.
⛪ FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS & THE CATECHISM
• St. Justin Martyr (2nd century): believers greeted one another with a kiss after the prayers, around the year 155.
• Tertullian (2nd to 3rd century): calls that kiss "the seal of prayer", the kiss of peace, not the couple's kiss.
• CCC 1623: in the Latin Church the spouses themselves are the ministers of Christ's grace, conferring the sacrament by their consent.
• CCC 2111: superstition includes attributing an importance in some way magical to practices otherwise lawful.
š SOURCES & FURTHER READING
• Canons 1057, 1101, and 1119: consent makes the marriage, your words are presumed to be your will, and the approved rites are to be observed.
• Canon 1118: the parish church is the place. A beach, garden, or barn needs the local ordinary's permission, which a pastor cannot grant.
• Sacrosanctum Concilium 22: regulating the liturgy belongs solely to the Church, and no one, not even a priest, may change it on his own authority.
• General Instruction of the Roman Missal 57: it is not lawful to replace the readings or the responsorial psalm with non-biblical texts.
• Sing to the Lord 93 and 135, with Musicam Sacram 43: recorded and merely secular music is to be avoided, particularly at marriages.
• Order of Celebrating Matrimony 64, and the arras and lazo approved by the US bishops on 12 November 2013, confirmed by Rome in June 2015, in the US rite from 2016.
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Catholic Trivia: How Well Do You Know Jesus’ Grandparents?
Today is the Feast of St Joachim in the Traditional Calendar. In the New Calendar, he was moved to 26 July with St Anne.
From Aleteia
By Theresa Civantos Barber
Anne and Joachim were the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus. How well do you know these saints who conceived Mary in their old age?
Maybe you’ve asked St. Anne for help finding something lost, or even a husband. (As the saying goes, “St. Anne, St. Anne, find me a man!")
Or you may have asked for her and St. Joachim’s intercession for your grandparents or grandchildren, as they are the patron saints of grandparents.
But did you know that most of the information about them comes from apocryphal writings rather than the canonical Gospels? That's just the beginning of what might surprise you about these beloved grandparents of Jesus.
Sts. Anne and Joachim are known as the parents of Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. But even if you're familiar with their role in salvation history, how well do you know these saints whom God blessed with the miracle of conceiving Mary in their old age?
Their shared feast day, July 26, is the perfect time to test your Sts. Anne and Joachim trivia. You can find the answers at the bottom. When you're done, let us know your score!
Sts. Anne and Joachim Trivia
1What does the name “Anne” (or “Anna”) mean in Hebrew?
2According to tradition, how long were Anne and Joachim married before Mary was born?
3What is St. Anne the patron saint of, besides grandmothers?
4St. Anne is particularly venerated as a patron saint of which two countries/regions?
5In what ancient apocryphal text do we first find the story of Anne and Joachim?
6According to tradition, at what age did Anne and Joachim bring Mary to the Temple?
7What famous Canadian shrine is dedicated to St. Anne, known for its miracles?
8St. Anne is often depicted in traditional religious art teaching Mary to do what?
9What symbolic item is St. Anne’s emblem?
10One of the oldest Catholic churches in the U.S. is dedicated to St. Anne. In what state is it located?
Answers
1. “Grace” or “favor,” from “God has given grace.” The name Anne is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah.
2. According to tradition, they were childless for 20 years before Mary's miraculous conception.
3. St. Anne is the patron saint of unmarried women, housewives, pregnant women, grandmothers, people suffering from infertility, equestrians, lacemakers, miners, the poor, and seamstresses. Whew, that’s a mouthful! You get this point if you named any of them.
4. Brittany (France) and Canada. Both are home to beloved and popular shrines in her honor.
5. They were first mentioned in the Gospel of James (also called the Protoevangelium of James), part of the apocrypha.
6. Age three. They brought Mary to the Temple when she was just three years old, fulfilling a vow they had made.
7. Sainte-Anne-de-BeauprƩ in Quebec, Canada, is a shrine where countless miracles have been reported and pilgrims leave behind crutches and canes.
8. Reading the Scriptures. St. Anne is often shown teaching young Mary to read from sacred texts.
9. A door is her emblem, symbolizing her role as the portal through which Mary (and thus Christ) came into the world.
10. The Basilica of Sainte Anne de DĆ©troit in Michigan is is the second-oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the United States.
What's Your Score?
9-10 correct: Grandparent Saint Scholar
7-8 correct: Holy Family Expert
5-6 correct: Sacred Tradition Enthusiast
Under 5: Sts. Anne and Joachim are still interceding for you!
We hope you had fun playing along with us!
The Real Strategy Behind the Latin Mass Bans
From AdVaticanum
The Traditional Latin Mass has returned to the spotlight following recent remarks by Cardinal Arthur Roche, who stated that Pope Leo XIV will not restore Summorum Pontificum. This discourse reveals a recurring pattern: modernist prelates routinely attempt to impugn the character of Traditionalist Catholics. A closer look at these disparaging comments exposes both their tactics and their broader strategy.
Pope Leo XIV Appoints Freemason to Vatican Committee
Pope Leo obviously hasn't read the 1983 CDF statement, Declaration on Masonic Associations, which states: Catholics who join Masonic organisations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
From LifeSiteNews
From LifeSiteNews
By Gaetano Masciullo
Umberto Longo, appointed to the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, appears repeatedly in Masonic records.
Pope Leo has appointed a historian who appears repeatedly in Masonic records to a Vatican historical committee.
On August 13, Pope Leo XIV appointed Umberto Longo, director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages and professor of medieval history at Sapienza University of Rome, as a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.
The appointment comes despite documentary evidence connecting him to Freemasonry, including records from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and later appearances by Longo at events organized within the sphere of the major Masonic lodge in Italy, the Grand Orient of Italy (GOI).
On February 9, 2019, for example, Longo participated in the conference “God and People. Roman Republic. 170 years of love,” organized in Rome by the GOI and the District College of Worshipful Masters of Lazio. The surviving video provides visual evidence of Longo speaking at the event, opened by Giuseppe Bramucci, a Master Mason. In particular, Longo gave a lecture titled “The Legacy of the Roman Republic.”
The Roman Republic of 1849 was deeply influenced by the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity that spread through Europe after the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and was founded in hatred against the Roman Pontiff. The Republic’s leaders – including Giuseppe Mazzini – were mostly Freemasons and shared with the Masonic tradition a vision of a moral and civic regeneration of humanity, grounded in reason and universal brotherhood rather than religious authority.
Although the video itself does not provide sufficient proof of Longo’s Masonic affiliation — Masonic lodges often invite to public conferences individuals sympathetic to Masonic thought who are not initiated members — it nonetheless constitutes evidence that Longo holds a distinctly favorable view of Masonic culture and ideals.
There are, however, other elements to be considered. In particular, a 2014 issue of Logos, the journal of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Italy, contains an article written by “Fr. Oratore Umberto Longo 9°” among the officers of the Lodge of Perfection of Secret Masters “Giano” in Rome. The article regards the history, ritual, and initiatory development of the Scottish Rite.
The title “Fr.” is used in the publication as an abbreviation for “Fratello” (“Brother”), while the number indicates the Masonic degree. In particular, the number “9°” means that he attained the Ninth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, namely that of Elect of the Nine.
This does not definitively prove that the Longo presented as a Brother Mason in Logos is the same individual who took part in the 2019 Masonic conference in Rome. Nevertheless, the coincidence of two namesakes — both from Rome and both specialists in the history of the Scottish Rite — seems highly unlikely. Moreover, the news section of the Grand Orient of Italy’s website repeatedly mentions Umberto Longo as a regular guest at their conferences.
In addition to the announcement of the 2019 Rome event, he also appears among the speakers at a 2014 conference devoted — once again — to the history of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
And in December 2022, Longo took part in a conference on Hugo Pratt, the renowned Italian comic artist who was himself a Freemason. The conference was organized by “Fondazione Scozzese Triveneta,” a cultural institution connected to the milieu of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
During his lecture, Longo describes with remarkable precision the stages of the Masonic initiation ritual: the chamber of reflection, the divesting of metals, the inner journey. He presents them not merely as a subject of historical study, but as a “complete representation” which he interprets using the kind of languageof someone well-versed in the Order’s symbolism.
At the end of his lecture, Longo concludes by placing himself, Hugo Pratt, Corto Maltese, and the audience within a single shared category: “Corto and Ugo know well that an initiate can only be a traveler… Pratt and Corto embody all of this, with a gentle smile, without dogmas, without claims to primacy; they are gentlemen of fortune. And, after all, so are we.”
Even more striking is that, at the conclusion of the conference, a man introduced as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite took the floor to thank the speaker, referring to him verbatim as “Brother Professor Longo.”
St Roch, Confessor
From Dom Prosper GuƩranger's Liturgical Year:
Three years of famine, three months of defeats, three days of pestilence: the choice given to the guilty David between these three measures of expiation shows them to be equivalent before the justice of God. The terrible scourge which makes more havoc in three days than would famine or a disastrous war in months and years, showed in the fourteenth century that it kept its sad pre-eminence: the Black Death covered the world with a mantle of mourning, and robbed it of a third of its inhabitants. Doubtless the world had never so well merited the terrible warning: the graces of sanctity poured in profusion on the preceding century had but checked for a while the defection of the nations. Every embankment being now broken down, entrance was given to the irresistible tide of schism, reform and revolution by which the world must die. Nevertheless God has mercy as long as life lasts, and while striking sinful mankind, He gave them at the same time the Saint predestined to appease His vengeance.
At his birth he appeared marked with the cross. When a young man he distributed his goods to the poor, and leaving his family and country, became a pilgrim for Christ’s sake. Going to Italy to visit the sanctuaries, he there found the cities devastated by a terrible plague. Roch took up his abode among the dead and dying, burying the former and healing the latter with the sign of the cross. Himself stricken with the evil, he hid himself so as to suffer alone; and a dog brought him food. When cured by God he returned to Montpellier, his native town, it was only to be there seized as a spy and thrown into prison where he died after five years. Such are thy dealings with your elect, O Wisdom of God! But no sooner was he dead, than prodigies burst forth, making known his origin and history, revealing the power he still enjoyed of delivering from pestilence those who had recourse to him.
The reputation of his influence, increased by fresh benefits at each visitation of plague, caused his cultus to become popular. Hence although the feast of Saint Roch is not universal, this short notice was due to him. It will be completed by the following legend and prayer borrowed from the proper office for certain places in the supplement of the Roman Breviary:
Roch was born at Montpellier. He showed his great love for his neighbor, when a cruel pestilence ravaged the length and breadth of Italy; leaving his native country he undertook a journey through Italy, and passing through the towns and villages, devoted himself to the service of the sick, not hesitating to lay down his life for his brethren. Miraculous cures bore witness how pleasing to God was the zeal of the holy man. For by the sign of the Cross he saved many who were in danger of death through the plague, and restored them to perfect health. He returned to his own country, and, rich in virtues and merits, died a most holy death. He was honored by the veneration of the faithful immediately after his death. It is said their devotion was greatly increased at the Council of Constance, when, in order to avert the pestilence that threatened them, the image of St. Roch was, with the approbation of the bishops, carried solemnly through that town followed by the whole people. Thus devotion to him has spread in a wonderful way through the whole world and he has been piously declared the universal protector against contagious diseases. Having carefully considered all this, Pope Urban VIII allowed his feast to be celebrated with an ecclesiastical office in those places where there are churches dedicated to God under the invocation of St. Roch.
PRAYER
We beseech thee, O Lord, protect Thy people in Thy unceasing goodness; and through the merits of blessed Roch, preserve them from every contagion of soul and body. Through the same etc.
St Joachim, Confessor, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary
From Dom Prosper GuƩranger's Liturgical Year:
From time immemorial the Greeks have celebrated the feast of St. Joachim on the day following our Lady’s birthday. The Maronites kept it on the day after the Presentation in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The Latins at first did not keep his feast. Later on it was admitted and celebrated sometimes on the day after the Octave of the Nativity, September 16th, sometimes on the day following the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, December 9th. Thus both East and West agreed in associating St. Joachim with his illustrious daughter when they wished to do him honor.
About the year 1510, Julius II placed the feast of the grandfather of the Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the rank of double major; and remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of grace were in such perfect harmony, he fixed the solemnity on the 20th March, the day after that of his son-in-law, St. Joseph. The life of the glorious patriarch resembled those of the first fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually changing his place upon the sacred cycle.
Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II the critical spirit of the day cast doubts upon the history of St. Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman breviary. Gregory XV, however, re-established his feast in 1622 as a double, and the Church has since continued to celebrate it. Devotion to our Lady’s father continuing to increase very much, the Holy See was petitioned to make his feast a holy day of obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, St. Anne. In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of days of obligation, Clement XII in 1738 transferred the feast of St. Joachim to the Sunday after the Assumption of his daughter, the Blessed Virgin, and restored it to the rank of double major.
On the 1st August 1879, the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in baptism, raised both the feast of his glorious patron and that of St. Anne to the rank of doubles of the second class.
The following is an extract from the decree Urbi et Orbi, announcing this final decision with regard to the said feasts: “Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honor and veneration ought we then to render to St. Joachim and St. Anne, who begot the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others.”
“By your fruits you are known,” says St. John Damascene, “you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the Angels and has become their Queen.” (J. Damasc. Oratio I de V.M. Nativity) Now since, through the divine mercy, in our unhappy times the honor and worship paid to the Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the new glory which surrounds their blessed daughter should redound upon her happy parents. May this increase of devotion towards them cause the Church to experience still more their powerful protection.
MASS
Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold. (Tobit 12:8) Far better than Tobias, did Joachim experience the truth of the Archangel’s word. Tradition says that he divided his income into three parts: one for the Temple, the second for the poor, and the third for his family. The Church, wishing to honor Mary’s father, begins by praising this liberality, and also his justice which earned him such great glory.
He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.
Ps. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he delighteth exceedingly in his commandments.
Glory, etc. He hath.
MOTHER OF GOD: such is the title which exalts Mary above all creatures; but Joachim, too, is ennobled by it; he alone can be called, for all eternity, Grandfather of Jesus. In heaven, even more than on earth, nobility and power go hand in hand. Let us then, with the Church, become humble clients of one so great.
COLLECT
O God, who before all thy Saints wert pleased that blessed Joachim should be the father of her who bore thy Son; grant, we beseech thee, that we may ever experience his patronage, whose festival we venerate. Through the same Lord, etc.
A commemoration is here made of the Sunday within the Octave.
EPISTLE
Lesson from the Book of Ecclesiasticus 31:8-11
Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful things in his life. Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting. He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them: Therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the church of the saints shall declare his alms.
Joachim’s wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God’s blessing upon it. But the greatest of all his desires heaven seemed to refuse him. His holy spouse Anne was barren. Amongst all the daughters of Israel expecting the Messias, there was no hope for her. One day the victims Joachim presented in the Temple were contemptuously rejected. Those were not the gifts the Lord of the Temple desired of him; later on, instead of lambs from his pastures, he was to present the Mother of the Lamb of God, and his offering would not be rejected.
This day, however, he was filled with sorrow and fled away without returning to his wife. He hastened to the mountains where his flocks were at pasture; and living in a tent, he fasted continually, for he said: “I will take no food till the Lord my God look mercifully upon me; prayer shall be my nourishment.”
Meanwhile Anne was mourning her widowhood and her barrenness. She prayed in her garden as Joachim was praying on the mountain. (Epiphanius, Oratio de laudibus Virgin) Their prayers ascended at the same time to the Most High, and he granted them their request. An Angel of the Lord appeared to each of them and bade them meet at the Golden Gate, and soon Anne could say: “Now I know that the Lord hath greatly blessed me. For I was a widow and I am one no longer, and I was barren, and lo! I have conceived!” (Protoevang. Jacobi)
The Gradual again proclaims the merit of alms-giving and the value God sets upon holiness of life. The descendants of Joachim shall be mighty and blessed in heaven and upon earth. May he deign to exert his influence with his all-holy daughter, and with his grandson Jesus, for our salvation.
He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever.
℣. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the mighty shall be blessed.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. O Joachim, holy spouse of Anne, father of the glorious Virgin, assist now thy servants unto salvation. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew 1:1-16
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren. And Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares begot Esron. And Esron begot Aram. And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon. And Salmon begot Booz of Rahab. And Booz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias. And Solomon begot Roboam. And Roboam begot Abia. And Abia begot Asa. And Asa begot Josaphat. And Josaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ozias. And Ozias begot Joatham. And Joatham begot Achaz. And Achaz begot Ezechias. And Ezechias begot Manasses. And Manasses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias. And Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon. And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. And Salathiel begot Zorobabel. And Zorobabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliacim. And Eliacim begot Azor. And Azor begot Sadoc. And Sadoc begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud. And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
“Rejoice, O Joachim, for of thy daughter a Son is born to us,” (J. Damasc. Oratio I de V.M. Nativity ex Isaiah 9:6) exclaims St. John Damascene. It is in this spirit the Church reads today the list of the royal ancestors of our Savior. Joseph, the descendant of these illustrious princes, inherited their rights and passed them on to Jesus, who was his Son according to the Jewish law, though according to nature he was of the line of his Virgin Mother alone.
St. Luke, Mary’s Evangelist, has preserved the names of the direct ancestors of the Mother of the Man-God, springing from David in the person of Nathan, Solomon’s brother. Joseph, the son of Jacob according to St. Matthew, appears in St. Luke as son of Heli. The reason is that by espousing Mary, the only daughter of Hili or Heliachim, that is Joachim, he became legally his son and heir.
This is the now generally received explanation of the two genealogies of Christ the Son of David. It is not surprising that Rome, the queen city who has become the Bride of the Son of man in the place of the repudiated Sion, prefers to use in her Liturgy the genealogy which by its long line of royal ancestors emphasizes the kingship of the Spouse over Jerusalem. The name of Joachim, which signifies “the preparation of the Lord,” is thus rendered more majestic, without losing aught of its mystical meaning.
He is himself crowned with wonderful glory. Jesus, his Grandson, gives him to share in his own authority over every creature. In the Offertory we celebrate St. Joachim’s dignity and power.
Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor: and hast set him over the works of thy hands, O Lord.
“Joachim, Anne and Mary,” says St. Epiphanius: “what a sacrifice of praise was offered to the Blessed Trinity by this earthly Trinity!” May their united intercession obtain for us the full effect of the sacrifice which is being prepared upon the Altar in honor of the head of this noble family.
SECRET
Receive this sacrifice, O most merciful God, offered to thy majesty in honor of the holy patriarch Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary; that by his intercession, with that of his spouse and most blessed offspring, we may deserve to obtain the entire remission of sins, and everlasting glory. Through, etc.
While enjoying the delights of the sacred mysteries, let us not forget that if Mary gave us the Bread of Life, she herself came to us through Joachim. Let us confidently entrust to his prudent care the precious germ which we have just received, and which must now fructify our souls.
A faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord set over his family; to give them their measure of wheat in due season.
The Sacraments produce of themselves the essential grace belonging to them; but we need the intercession of the Saints to remove all obstacles to their full operation in our hearts. Such is the sense of the Postcommunion.
POSTCOMMUNION
We beseech thee, Almighty God, that by these mysteries which we receive, the merits and prayers of blessed Joachim, father of her who bore thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for us, we may be made worthy to be partakers of thy grace in this life, and of eternal glory in the life to come. Through the same Lord, etc.
Then is added the Postcommunion of the Sunday within the Octave, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of Mass, instead of that of St. John.
VESPERS
Yesterday at First Vespers the Church sang the praises of Joachim as “a man glorious in his “generation, unto whom the Lord gave the blessings ” of all nations, and upon whose head he confirmed “his testament” (Ant. of Magnificat at 1st Vespers) The second Vespers are taken from the Common of a Confessor not a Bishop, the Antiphons of which are so full of graceful simplicity. No more fitting words could be found wherewith to praise this just man whose path, as we read in the Book of Wisdom, was truly as a brilliant light going forward and increasing even to perfect day. He offered to the Lord in his temple the Virgin Mother who was to give our human nature to the Word. His life had no evening. It closed when his daughter’s sanctity was attaining its zenith, and the father of the Immaculate Virgin went to carry hope to the souls of the just in Limbo.
1. ANT. Lord, thou gavest me five talents: behold I have gained five more.
Ps. Dixit Dominus.
2. ANT. Well done, thou good servant, faithful in few things, enter into the joy of thy Lord.
Ps. Confitebor tibi, Domine.
3. ANT. Faithful and prudent servant, whom his Lord hath placed over his family.
Ps. Beatus vir.
4. ANT. Blessed is that servant, whom when his Lord shall come and knock at the gate, he shall find watching.
Ps. Laudate pueri.
5. ANT. Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.
Ps. Laudate Dominum omnes gentes.
CAPITULUM
(Eccli. xxxi.)
Blessed is the man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? For he hath done wonderful things in his life.
HYMN
On this day, the blessed Confessor of the Lord, whom all nations throughout the world lovingly venerate, merited the highest honors of praise.
Pious, prudent, humble, and chaste, he led a sober and spotless life, as long as quickening breath animated his frame.
Oft does it happen, through his eminent merit, that the languishing limbs of poor sufferers, overcoming the power of the disease, are restored to health.
Therefore does our choir devoutly sing his praise, telling his glorious victories: may we be evermore assisted by his benevolent prayers.
Salvation and honor and power be to him who, seated glorious on his heavenly throne, One and Three, ruleth the whole universe.
Amen.
℣. The Lord hath led the just man through right ways.
℟. And shown him the kingdom of God.
ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT
Let us praise this man, despising the world and earthly things, triumphantly, by word and deed, laid up treasures in heaven.
The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, above. Then is made a commemoration of the Sunday.
The Acts of the Saints reproduce on the 20th March this Hymn from the ancient Roman Breviary, which will serve as a prayer to the father of Mary:
HYMN
O Joachim, Father of the sovereign Maiden, who in all purity gave birth to God, present to the Lord our petitions and our chaste desires.
Thou knowest by what angry waves we are here tossed, whom the cruel sea of this world wearies out: thou knowest how many battles Satan and the flesh prepare for us.
Now that thou art united to the holy companies in heaven, or rather art placed at their head, thou canst do all if thou wilt: for rightly neither Jesus thy Grandson nor Mary thy daughter can deny thee aught.
Obtain by thy prayer that our Blessed God may give us pardon and peace: that united with thee we may sweetly sing canticles to him.
Amen.
Father of Mary, we thank thee. All creation owes thee a debt of gratitude, since the Creator was pleased that thou shouldst give him the Mother he had chosen for himself.
Husband of holy Anne, thou showest us what would have been in paradise; thou seemest to have been reinstated in primeval innocence, in order to give birth to the Immaculate Virgin; sanctify Christian life, and elevate the standard of morals. Thou art the Grandfather of Jesus: let thy paternal love embrace all Christians who are His brethren. Holy Church honors thee more than ever in these days of trial; she knows how powerful thou art with the Eternal and Almighty Father, who made thee instrumental, through thy blessed daughter, in the temporal generation of His Eternal Son.
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