Saturday Second Week in Advent; Within the Octave; Saints Nicasius and Eutropia; Saint Venantius Fortunatus

MASS WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

DOUBLE, FIRST CLASS / PURPLE


INTROIT Isa. 30:30
People of Sion, behold, the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make heard the glory of His voice in the joy of your heart.Ps. 79:2 Take heed, you who rule Israel, you who shepherd over Joseph. 
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, stir up our hearts to accept the message of Your only-begotten Son, so that, through His coming on earth, we may serve Him always with a pure intention; who lives and rules with You . . . 


EPISTLE Rom. 15:4-13
Brethren: For what things soever were written were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind, one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: That with one mind and with one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive one another, as Christ also hath received you, unto the honour of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles and will sing to thy name." And again he saith: "Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people." And again: "Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles: and magnify him, all ye people." And again, Isaias saith: "There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope." Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Ghost. 

GRADUAL Ps. 49:2-3, 5
Out of Sion, perfect in beauty, God shall come revealed. 
V. Gather before Him His saints, who have ratified His covenant with sacrifice.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 121:1
I rejoiced at the tidings which were told me, "We shall go into the house of the Lord."
Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 11:2-10
At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him: "Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?" And Jesus making answer said to them: "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." 
And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: "What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold I send my angel before my face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' "

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 84:7-8
You will turn again, O God, and bring us life, and Your people shall rejoice in You. Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

SECRET 
O Lord, let our humble offering of these prayers and sacrifices appease You for our sins. We have no merits of our own to depend on; so assist us with Your aid. Through Our Lord . . . 


COMMUNION ANTIPHON Bar. 5:5; 4:36
Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and behold the joy that comes to you from your God.

POSTCOMMUNION 
We have just been nourished with Your Body and Blood, O Lord. Teach us through this Sacramental rite to despise the things of earth and to yearn for the things of heaven. Through Our Lord . . .

SAINTS NICASIUS & EUTROPIA 
Bishop & his Sister (5th C. Historical)

(5th century)

Saint Nicasius and his Companions

In the fifth century an army of Vandal barbarians from Germany, while ravaging part of Gaul, plundered the city of Rheims. Nicasius, its holy bishop, an emissary of peace, justice and charity, had foretold this calamity to his flock; for the city of Rheims, which for a long time had been docile to his word, little by little was seen by the afflicted pastor to be sinking into vice and corruption. He endeavored to waken them to penance: Weep, lament in sackcloth and ashes, unfortunate flock, for God has numbered your iniquities, and if you do not do penance, dreadful punishments are going to come upon you! But his words were unheeded.

When Saint Nicasius saw the enemy at the gates and in the streets, forgetting himself and solicitous only for his spiritual children, he went from door to door encouraging everyone to patience and constancy, and awakening in each breast the most heroic sentiments of piety and religion. By endeavoring to save the lives of his flock, he exposed himself to the sword of the infidels, who indeed slew him, while he was praying on his knees the words of a Psalm: Lord, my soul has been as though fastened to the earth; Lord, give me life, according to Your word! Florens, his deacon, and Jocond, his lector, were massacred by his side. His sister Eutropia, a virtuous and beautiful virgin, fearing she might be reserved for a fate worse than death, boldly cried out to the infidels that it was her unalterable resolution to sacrifice her life rather than her faith or her virtue. In reply, they dispatched her with their cutlasses, and continued their massacre.

Then, suddenly, a strange and terrible noise was heard in the Church of Notre-Dame, and the alarmed barbarians took flight without taking time to pillage the houses or burn the city, or even take the booty they had already amassed.

When the city's inhabitants who had fled to the mountains of the region felt it was safe to return, having seen an unexplained flame above the place of the torment and heard what seemed to be an angelic concert in that area, they went with the intention of piously burying the remains of the slain, and they found there Saint Nicasius, their bishop, his assistants, and Saint Eutropia. Many miracles occurred at their tomb.

SAINT VENANTIUS FORTUNATUS
Bishop (605 A.D. Historical)

Gallic poet and (briefly) serving bishop of Poitiers, France. Known in full as Venantius Clementianus Fortunatus, he was born in Trevise, near Venice, Italy, and studied at Ravenna. He suffered from some ailment of the eye, but thanks to St. Martin of Tours, he was able to embark upon a pilgrimage in 565 which brought him to Mainz, Cologne, and Trier, Gennany, and to Metz and the Moselle, France. He reached the court of King Sigebert (r. sixth century) at Metz in 566 and there was much praise for his poetry, especially his eulogies. Venantius next journeyed to Verdun, Reims, Soissons, Paris, and finaIly Tours, where he prayed at the tomb of St. Martin. Moving on to Poitiers, he entered into the service of Queen Rodegunda who was now living as a nun, acting as her secretary until her death in August 587. Shortly before his death, he was named bishop of Potiers. A brilliant poet, considered a transitional figure in literature between the ancient and medieval periods, Venanhus was a prolific writer: six poems on the Cross, including the two famous works Vexilla Regia and Pange Lzngua Gloijosi; eleven books of poems; a metrical life of St. Martin of Tours; the prose lives of eleven Gallic saints, including the Vita Rodegundis; and the elegy DeExcidie Thui'ingiae.