IN LUMINE FIDEI: 11 FEBRUARY – OUR LADY OF LOURDES

O Mary, Mother of God, who to reanimate the faith of the world and draw men to your divine Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, deigned to appear at Lourdes, you who, in order to render more manifest your maternal tenderness, and to inspire our hearts with greater confidence, chose a simple little child as the confidant of your mercy, you who said, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” to make us understand the priceless value of that innocence which is the pledge of the friendship of God, you who by eighteen successive apparitions did not cease by your actions and words to urge men to prayer and penance, which alone can appease Heaven and ward off the blows of divine justice, you who, by a moving appeal to the world, has reunited before the miraculous Grotto an innumerable multitude of your children, behold us, Our Lady of Lourdes, prostrate at your feet, and confident of obtaining blessings and graces from God by your most powerful intercession.

Those who love you, O Mother of Jesus Christ, Mother of men, desire above everything to serve God faithfully in this world, so as to have the happiness of loving Him eternally in Heaven.

Listen to the prayers which we this day address to you. Defend us against the enemies of our salvation, and against our own infirmities, together with the pardon of our sins, obtain for us perseverance in the determination never to fall away again.

We implore you also to take under your protection our friends and benefactors, and of these in a very special manner those who have abandoned the practice of their Christian duties. May they be converted and become your faithful servants.

We beseech you also to bless our country. She has many failings, for which we must implore pardon, but in the midst of her wanderings from the right path, she has never ceased to proclaim through the best of her sons that you are forever her Mother and her Sovereign.

You have always shown her your love, and we hope that you will not abandon her after having heaped your favours and benefits on her.

While we pour forth our hearts in prayer at your feet, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, we cannot forget our Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff, and in his person the whole Catholic Church, which your divine Son has entrusted to him to lead along the paths of eternal salvation.

He, too, places his whole trust in you. Protect and bless him. Be his support and consolation in the midst of his trials, and help him to extend the Kingdom of God.

O Mother of mercy, be for us all “the cause of our joy,” and “show to us” Jesus Christ, as your gift in this life and in eternity. Amen.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Africa, during the persecution of Diocletian, the birthday of the holy martyrs Saturninus, a priest, Dativus, Felix, Ampelius and their companions. They had, as was their custom, assembled for Mass, when they were seized by the soldiers and put to death under the proconsul Anolinus.

In Numidia, in the same persecution, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who, refusing after their apprehension to deliver the holy Scriptures, conformably to the imperial edict, were given over to most painful torments and slain.

At Adrianople, the holy martyrs Lucius, bishop, and his companions. Lucius suffered much from the Arians under Constantius and terminated his martyrdom in prison. The others, who were among the principal citizens, refusing to communicate with the Arians, just then anathematised in the Council of Sardica, were condemned to capital punishment by Count Philagrius.

At Lyons, St. Desiderius, bishop of Vienne, and martyr.

At Ravenna, St. Calocerus, bishop and confessor.

At Milan, St. Lazarus, bishop.

At Capua, St. Castrensis, bishop.

At Chateau-Landon, St. Severin, abbot of the monastery of Agaune, by whose prayers the Christian king Clovis was delivered from a long sickness.

In Egypt, St. Jonas, a monk, eminent for virtues.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.