St. Augustine
It was the
combined efforts of two saints who had the greatest effects on the life of one
of the great Doctors of the Church Saint Augustine of Hippo. Augustine’s mother
Saint Monica played a major behind the scenes role in his conversion, while
Saint Ambrose was on the front line with Augustine, who had become a great
skeptic, teaching, influencing and converting him.
Augustine was born in Tagaste in what is
today Algeria on November 13, 354. By the time he was 30 he was preaching
rhetoric, interspersed with Manichean heresy, at the University of Milan. It was
there he met St. Ambrose and sat in on his lectures where he was enthralled
with Ambrose’s explanation of Sacred Scripture. In 356 Augustine heard a voice
while he was embroiled in abandoned tears of helplessness searching for
answers. The child-like voice chanted, “Take and read.” Without thinking
Augustine opened the Bible to the words of Saint Paul in Romans 13:13-14 which
said, “Let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness,
not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and as for the flesh, take no thought for its lusts.” He was
so moved that he asked Ambrose if he could be baptized and then immediately
told his mother Monica that he wanted to be baptized. Both she and Ambrose were
delighted beyond belief. Monica firmly insisted that in order to be in full
union with the Church he had to abandon his Manichean beliefs and forsake
living with his girlfriend and their three children illegitimately conceived.
Augustine agreed, was baptized and then buried his mother the same year.
Shortly after Monica’s death he returned to Africa and was ordained a priest at
the age of 36.
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| St. Ambrose and St. Augustine |
During this time he dedicated full time to
righting and writing the wrongs he had wrought to so many through his Manichean
ideas. At the young age of 41 Augustine was consecrated the Bishop of Hippo
where he preached and served the people for the rest of his life, defending the
Church against all types of heresies. Even though a bishop, he still lived in
community with fellow priests and wrote constantly beginning with his major
works Confessions which was basically a catechism for all catechumens along
with his great work Christian Doctrine.
In 410, as the Goth Alaric was laying siege
to Rome Augustine wrote his most famous opus – City of God. His great words,
“Too late have I loved You, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! Our hearts
were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in You” show
how God became the end-all and be-all in his life which ended at the age of 76
on August 28, 430 as the Vandals were storming the gates of Hippo. To preserve
his body from the Vandals, the Augustinians stole him away to Sardinia where he
was laid to rest, and later transferred to Pavia. Though Augustine’s works were
appreciated during his lifetime, it wasn’t until after his death that his words
really took root and was celebrated as a Doctor of the Church from the eighth
century on, becoming official in the eleventh century. Today St. Augustine is revered
as one of the greatest and learned scholars of the Church. His conversion
proves the power of God’s love and the power of the Word of God.
St. Hermes,
Martyr
One of the oldest Roman martyrs. St. Hermes,
born in Greece, died in Rome as a martyr in 120.
Early in the fourth century, the city of Antium in the
Italian Lazio had a basilica built in his honor. Which was very rare in the
years that immediately followed the persecution. We also know that he was a
Roman slave, freed, and he died a martyr.
He appears in
the Roman Martyrology, the official but professedly incomplete list of saints
recognized by the Catholic Church. The entry is as follows: "In the
Cemetery of Basilia on the Old Salarian Way, Saint Hermes, Martyr, whom, as
reported by Saint Damasus, Greece sent forth, but Rome kept as its citizen when
he died for the holy name."
Friday in the Thirteenth Week after Pentecost
Feast of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the
Church with a Commemoration of St. Hermes
Double/White
Missa “In medio Ecclesiae”
INTROIT: Ecclesiasticus 15: 5
In the midst
of the Church the Lord opened his mouth: and filled him with the spirit of
wisdom and understanding: He clothed him with a robe of glory.. (Ps. 91: 2) It
is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy Name, O Most High. v.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the
beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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| St Augustine arrives in Milan |
COLLECT
Give ear to
our prayers, O almighty God, and, by the intercession of blessed Augustine, Thy
confessor and bishop, graciously grant the effect of Thine accustomed mercy to
those in whom Thou dost encourage a strong trust in the kindness which is their
hope. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and
ever. Amen.
Commemoration
of St. Hermes
Let us pray.
God, Who didst strengthen blessed Hermes, Thy martyr, with the virtue of
constancy in his suffering, grant us, in imitation of him, to despise the
prosperity of the world for love of Thee, and not to fear worldly adversity.
EPISTLE: 2
Timothy 4: 1-8
Lesson from
the Epistle of blessed Paul the Apostle to Timothy.
Dearly beloved, I charge
thee before God and Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the living and the dead, by
His coming, and His Kingdom. Preach the word: be instant in season: reprove,
entreat, rebuke in all patience, and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but according to their own desires they
will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away
their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. But be thou
vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy
ministry. Be sober. For I am even now ready to be sacrificed; and the time of
my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the Faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown
of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that day; and
not only to me, but to them also that love His coming. Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL: Psalm
36: 30-31
The mouth of
the just shall meditate wisdom and his tongue shall speak judgment. V. The law
of his God is in his heart: and his steps shall not be supplanted. Alleluia,
alleluia. V. (Ps. 88: 21) I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I
have anointed him. Alleluia.
GOSPEL:
Matthew 5: 13-19
At that time
Jesus said to His disciples: “You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt
lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more
but to be cast out, and to be trodden by men. You are the light of the world. A
city seated on a mountain can not be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put
it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in
the house; so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I am come to
destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For,
amen I say unto you, till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
not pass of the law till all be fulfilled. He therefore that shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in
the kingdom of Heaven: but he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great
in the kingdom of Heaven.
OFFERTORY:
Psalm 92: 15
The just shall
flourish like the palm tree: he shall be multiplied like the cedar that is in
Libanus.
SECRET
May the loving
prayers of Augustine, Thy bishop, not be wanting to us, O Lord, to commend our
gifts and ever to obtain pardon for us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God…
Commemoration
Secret for St. Hermes
We offer Thee,
O Lord, the sacrifice of praise in commemoration of Thy saints; grant, we
beseech Thee, that what hath conferred glory on them may profit us unto
salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with
Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God…
PREFACE
Common Preface
It is truly
meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times and in
all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting
God: through Christ our Lord. Through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the
Dominations worship it, the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly
hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to
celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our
voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise:
COMMUNION:
Luke 12: 42
A faithful and
wise steward, whom the Lord set over His family; to give them their measure of
wheat in due season.
POSTCOMMUNION
That Thy
sacrifices may give us health, O Lord, may blessed Augustine, Thy bishop and
illustrious doctor, we beseech Thee, act as our intercessor. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the
Holy Ghost, one God…
Commemoration
Postcommunion for St. Hermes
Filled with heavenly blessings, O Lord, we beseech Thy mercy that, by the
intercession of blessed Hermes, Thy martyr, we may feel the salutary effects of
that which we humbly perform. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who
liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever
and ever. Amen.
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