FERIAL DAY
(Mass of preceding Sunday)
[Requiem or Votive Mass allowed]
VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS
SAINT WOLFGANG
SAINT QUENTIN
INTROIT Jer. 29:11, 12, 14
Said the Lord: "I think thoughts of
peace and not of affliction. You shall call upon Me and I will hear you,
and I will bring you back from captivity from all places." Ps. 84:2. Lord, You have blessed Your land; You have restored Jacob from captivity.
V. Glory be . . .
COLLECT
Forgive the offenses of Your people, O
Lord, so that through Your merciful goodness we may be freed from the
bondage of sin into which we were led by our own weakness. Through Our
Lord . . .
EPISTLE Philipp. 3:17-21; 4:1-3
Brethren: Be ye followers of me, and
mark those who walk after the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of
whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping) that they are
enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction: whose God is
their belly: and whose glory is in their shame: who mind earthly things.
But our conversation is in heaven: from whence also we look for the
Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness,
made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby
also he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore my
dearly beloved brethren and most desired, my joy and my crown: so stand
fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beg of Evodia and I beseech
Syntyche to be of one mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, my
sincere companion, help those women who have labored with me in the
gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow laborers, whose names are
in the book of life.
GRADUAL Ps. 43:8-9
You have freed us from those who afflict us, O Lord, and You have put to shame those who hate us.
V. In God we will glory all the day, and praise Your name forever.
Alleluia, alleluia! Ps. 129:1-2
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer!
Alleluia!
GOSPEL Matt. 9:18-26
At that time, as Jesus was speaking these things unto them, behold a
certain ruler came up, and adored him, saying: "Lord, my daughter is
even now dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." And
Jesus rising up followed him, with his disciples.
And behold
a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came
behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within
herself: "If I shall touch only his garment, I shall be healed." But
Jesus turning and seeing her, said: "Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." And
the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus was come into
the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the multitude making a
rout, He said: "Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth." And they laughed him to scorn.
And when the multitude was put forth,
he went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose. And the fame
hereof went abroad into all that country.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 129:1-2
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer, out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.
SECRET
We offer this sacrifice of praise, O
Lord, to fulfill our debt of service to You. May Your blessings which we
cannot merit, continue to reach us through Your boundless mercy.
Through Our Lord . . .
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Mark 11:24
Amen I say to you, all things whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come to you.
POSTCOMMUNION
You have given us the happiness of
participating in this Heavenly Banquet, O Almighty God. Let us not now
fall victim to any human danger. Through Our Lord . . .
Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg
Bishop (924-994 A.D.)
[Historical]
Wolfgang
(d. 994) + Bishop and reformer. Born in Swabia, Germany, he studied at
Reichenau under the Benedictines and at Wurzburg before serving as a
teacher in the cathedral school of Trier. He soon entered the
Benedictines at Einsiedeln (964) and was appointed head of the
monastery school, receiving ordination in 971. He then set out with a
group of monks to preach among the Magyars of Hungary, but the
following year (972) was named bishop of Regensburg by Emperor Otto II
(r. 973-983). As bishop, he distinguished himself brilliantly for his
reforming zeal and his skills as a statesman. He brought the clergy of
the diocese into his reforms, restored monasteries, promoted education,
preached enthusiastically, and was renowned for his charity and aid to
the poor, receiving the title Eleemosynarius Major (Grand Almoner).
He also served as tutor to Emperor Henry II (r. 1014-1024) while he was
still king. Wolfgang died at Puppingen near Linz, Austria. He was
canonized in 1052 by Pope St. Leo IX (r. 1049-1054). Feast day: October
31.
Saint Quentin was a Roman, descended from a senatorial
family. Full of zeal for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, he left his
country and went into Gaul, accompanied by eleven other
apostles sent from Rome. They separated to extend their campaign of
evangelization to the
various regions of France. Saint Quentin remained at Amiens and
endeavored by his prayers and
labors to make that region part of Our Lord’s inheritance. By the force
of his words and works he preluded the glory of his martyrdom. He gave
sight to the blind, vigor to paralytics, hearing to the deaf, and
agility to the infirm, in the name of Our Lord, simply by the sign of
the Cross. At all hours of the day he invoked his God in fervent
supplications.
But this apostolate could not escape the notice of
Rictiovarus, the Roman prosecutor who at that time represented Maximian
Herculeus in Gaul. Saint Quentin was seized at Amiens, thrown into
prison, and loaded with chains. Rictiovarus asked him: “How does it
happen that you, of such high nobility and the son of so distinguished a
father, have given yourself up to so superstitious a religion, a folly,
and that you adore an unfortunate man crucified by other men?” Saint
Quentin replied: “It is sovereign nobility to adore the Creator of
heaven and earth, and to obey willingly His divine commandments. What
you call folly is supreme wisdom. What is there that is wiser than to
recognize the unique true God, and to reject with disdain the
counterfeits, which are mute, false and deceiving?”
When the holy preacher was found to be invulnerable to
either promises or threats, the prosecutor condemned him to the most
barbarous torture. He was stretched on the rack and flogged. He prayed
for strength, for the honor and glory of the name of God, forever
blessed. He was returned to the prison when the executioners who were
striking him fell over backwards, and
told Rictiovarus they were unable to stand up, and could scarcely speak.
An Angel released the
prisoner during the night, telling him to go and preach in the city, and
that the persecutor would
soon fall before the justice of God.*
His sermon, a commented paraphrase of the Apostles’ Creed, has been
conserved. To his profession of faith in the Holy Trinity, he added
that Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he adored, “gave sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, health to the sick and even life to the dead. At
His voice, the lame leaped up and ran, paralytics walked, and water was
changed into wine... He has promised to be forever with those who hope
in Him, and He never abandons those who place their hope in Him; by His
omnipotence He delivers them, whenever it pleases Him, from all their
tribulations.” His guardians discovered that he had disappeared, though
all doors were barred, and found him in the city preaching. They were
converted by the prodigy. But Rictiovarus was furious and said to them:
“You, too, have become magicians?”
Brought back before the tribunal as a sorcerer, Saint
Quentin said: “If by persevering in my faith, I am put to death by you,
I will not cease to live in Jesus Christ; this is my hope, I maintain
it with confidence.” He was again placed on the rack and beaten, and
tortured with other demoniacal means; his flesh pierced with two iron
wires from the shoulders to the thighs, and iron nails were thrust into
his fingers, his skull and body. Finally, this glorious martyr was
decapitated, after praying and saying: “O Lord Jesus, God of God, Light
of Light..., for love of whom I have given up my body to all the
torments... ah! I implore Thee, in Thy holy mercy, receive my spirit and
soul, which I offer Thee with all the ardor of my desires. Do not
abandon me, O most kind King, most clement King, who livest and reignest
with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever!”
His death occurred on October 31, 287.
His body was twice buried secretly, and twice it was
rediscovered miraculously — in the years 338 and 641, first by Saint
Eusebie of Rome, on a marshy island, where it had remained intact; later
near the city of Augusta, by Saint Eloi. Saint Quentin remains in
great honor in France above all, where more than fifty-two churches and
as many localities were, at the
beginning of the 20th century, dedicated to his memory; he is
honored also in Belgium and in Italy. Charlemagne and the kings of
France have gone to venerate the relics of Saint Quentin.
Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13.
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