Dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Snow
In the time of Pope Liberius, there
lived at Rome a certain nobleman named John and a noble lady his wife, who had
no children to whom to leave their substance. Then they vowed that they would
make the most holy Virgin Mother of God their heiress, and earnestly besought
her in some way to make known to them upon what godly work she would that the
money should be spent. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously listened to their
prayers and heart-felt earnestness, and by a miracle assured them of her will.
On the 5th day of August, which is that
time when the heat of summer waxeth greatest in Rome, a part of the Esquiline
Hill was covered by night with snow. And on this same night the Mother of God
appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them that on that
spot, which in the morning they should see clad with snow, they should build a
Church, to be dedicated in the name of the Virgin Mary, for that this was the
way in which she chose that they should make her their heiress. John went and
told it to Pope Liberius, who declared that he also had been visited by a like
dream.
Therefore he came in a solemn procession
of Priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and traced upon that spot the plan
of a Church which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was
afterwards rebuilt by Sixtus III. At the beginning it was called by divers
names, sometimes the Liberian Basilica, sometimes the Church of St
Mary at the Manger. There are in Rome many Churches called after
the Holy Virgin Mary, and this Church doth excel them all, both in honor, and
because of the strange sign wherewith it was dedicated, it hath come to be
called the Church of St Mary, the Greater. The memory of the dedication thereof
is kept every year by a Feast-day that taketh name from the wonderful fall of
snow which on this day took place. - Roman Breviary
Wednesday in the Tenth Week after Pentecost
Greater – Double / White
Vestments
Missa “Salve sancta
parens”
Introitus – Psalm 44: 2
Salve, sancta parens, enixa puerperal Regem: qui caelum, terramque regit
in saecula saeculorum. (Ps. 44: 2 ) Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum : dico ego
opera mea Regi. V. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in
principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
INTROIT – Psalm 44: 2
Hail, holy Mother, thou who didst bring forth the King who rules heaven
and earth for ever and ever. (Ps. 44: 2) My heart hath uttered a good word: I
speak my works to the King. 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.
Oratio
Concede nos famulos tuos, quaesumus, Domine Deus, perpetua mentis et
Corporis sanitatem gaudere : et, gloriosa beatae Mariae semper Virginis
intercessione, a praesenti liberari trisititia, et aeterna perfuri laetitia.
Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum: Qui vivit et regnat Tecum in unitate
Spiritus Sancti, Deus.
COLLECT
Grant us Thy servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, to enjoy perpetual
health of mind and body; and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary ever
Virgin, to be delivered from present sorrows and to enjoy everlasting gladness.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity
of the Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever. Amen.
EPISTLE – Eccles 24: 14-16
Lesson from the Book of Wisdom
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the
world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have
ministered before him. And so I was established in Sion, and in the holy city
likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an
honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is
in the full assembly of saints.
GRADUAL
Thou art blessed and venerable, O Virgin Mary, who with purity unstained
was found to be the Mother of our Savior.
Alleluia
Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world was unable to contain
enclosed Himself in thy womb, being made man. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL - Luke 11: 27-28
The continuation of the holy Gospel
according to St. Matthew
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman
from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: ‘Blessed is the womb that
bore Thee and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said:’Yea, rather, blessed
are they who hear the world of God and keep it.’
Homily by the Venerable Bede
Lib 4 Cap 49 in Luke 11
It is plain that this was a woman of great earnestness and faith. The
Scribes and Pharisees were at once tempting and blaspheming the Lord, but this
woman so clearly grasped His Incarnation, and so bravely confessed the same,
that she confounded both the lies of the great men who were present, and the
faithlessness of the heretics who were yet to come. Even as the Jews then,
blaspheming the works of the Holy Ghost, denied the very Son of God Who is of
one substance with the Father, so afterwards did the heretics, by denying that
Mary always a Virgin did, under the operation of the Holy Ghost, supply flesh
to the Only begotten One of God, when He was about being born in an human Body,
even so, I say, did the heretics deny that the Son of Man should be called a
true Son, Who is of one substance with His Mother.
If we shall say that the Flesh, Wherewith the Son of God was born in the
flesh, was something outside of the flesh of the Virgin His Mother, without
reason should we bless the womb that bore Him, and the paps which He hath
sucked. But the Apostle saith: "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law", Gal. iv. 4, and they are not to be listened to who
read this passage: "Born of a woman, made under the law." He was made
of a woman, for He was conceived in a virgin's womb, and took His Flesh, not
from nothing, not from elsewhere, but from the flesh of His Mother. Otherwise,
and if He had not been sprung of a woman, He could not with truth be called the
Son of man. Let us therefore, denying the doctrine of Eutyches, lift up our
voice, along with the Universal Church, whereof that woman was a figure, let us
lift up our heart as well as our voice from the company, and say unto the Saviour:
Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
Blessed Mother, of whom one hath said thou art His Mother, Who reigns over
earth and over heaven for ever.
Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. How
nobly doth the Saviour say "Yea" to the woman's blessing, declaring
also that not only is she blessed who was meet to give bodily birth to the Word
of God, but that all they who spiritually conceive the same Word by the hearing
of faith, and, by keeping it through good works, bring it forth and, as it
were, carefully nurse it, in their own hearts, and in the hearts of their
neighbours, are also blessed. Yea, and that the very Mother of God herself was
blessed in being for a while the handmaid of the Word of God made Flesh, but
that she was much more blessed in this, that through her love she keepeth Him
for ever.
OFFERTORY
For thou art happy, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise:
because from thee arose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
SECRET
For thou art happy, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise :
because from thee arose the sun of justice, Christ our God. Through Jesus
Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the
Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever. Amen.
PREFACE
Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we
should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord,
Father almighty and everlasting God. That on the Festival of the blessed Virgin
Mary, we should praise, bless and proclaim Thee. For she conceived Thine only-begotten
Son by the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost; and losing not the glory of her
virginity, gave forth to the world the everlasting light, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the Dominions worship it, and
the powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the heavenly Hosts, and the blessed
Seraphim join together in celebrating their joy. With these we pray Thee join
our voices also, while we say with lowly praise:
SANCTUS
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in
excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.
COMMUNION
Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the
Eternal Father.
POSTCOMMUNION
Having received, O Lord, these helps to our salvation, grant, we beseech
Thee, that we may be ever protected by the patronage of blessed Mary ever
Virgin, in whose honor we have made these offerings to Thy majesty. Through
same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity
of the Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever. Amen.
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