Catholic devotions for the 25th August 2023
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Saint of the Day
Reading of the Martyrology
Dedication of the Month
Dedication of the Day
Rosary
Five Wounds Rosary in Latin
Seven Sorrows Rosary in English
Latin Monastic Office
Reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict
Celebration of Mass
Reading from the School of Jesus Crucified
Feast of Saint Louis IX, King of France
His reign saw an era of great cultural, intellectual and theological evolution. Saint Louis loved to host his Saint Bonaventure and Saint Thomas Aquinas at his table. With Robert of Sorbon, he founded the Sorbonne University in 1257. He followed with great care the completion of the cathedral of Notre Dame, in particular the rosettes and porticoes. His greatest concern was to pacify, to reconcile with enemies and to extinguish conflicts, specifically the one between France and England. He dreamt of returning to the Holy Land and of converting the Sultan of Egypt: nevertheless, he would never reach beyond Carthage, in present-day Tunis, for disease would kill him on August 25, 1270.
The prestige of Paris
Under the reign of Louis IX, Paris became the most prestigious city of Western Christianity, with its university, Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. No one was surprised that his canonization process began only two years after his death, especially in view of the miracles and healings that took place at his grave. In 1297, at the end of a long investigation, Pope Boniface VIII raised Louis IX to the glory of the altars, making him one of the saints of the Catholic Church. August 25, the anniversary of his death, became his canonical feast. Louis IX, king of France, was one of the first lay people to become recognized as a saint through the process of canonization.
Justice and Peace
Throughout his life, Louis IX was committed to reigning with justice and in peace, according to his call to holiness, which he lived in his role as a statesman. The sovereigns of Europe appealed to his wisdom. Known then for his sense of justice and for his love of God and the poor, he is represented with the symbols of the cross, the hand of righteousness, and the cincture of the Franciscan tertiaries, of whom he is the Patron saint.
The Reading from the Martyrology
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for Religious and Laity).
Virgin of Fatima,
Mother of Mercy,
Queen of Heaven and Earth,
Refuge of Sinners,
we who belong to the Marian Movement
consecrate ourselves in a very special way
to your Immacualte Heart.
By this act of consecration
we intend to live,
with you and through you,
all the obligations assumed by our baptismal consecration.
We further pledge to bring about in ourselves
that interior conversion so urgently demanded by the Gospel,
a conversion that will free us of every attachment to ourselves
and to easy compromises with the world so that, like you,
we may be available only to do always the will of the Father.
And as we resolve to entrust to you,
O Mother most sweet and merciful,
our life and vocation as Christians,
that you may dispose of it according to your designs of salvation
in this hour of decision that weighs upon the world,
we pledge to live it according to your desires,
especially as it pertains to a renewed spirit
of prayer and penance,
the fervent participation in the celebration of the Eucharist
and in the works of the apostolate,
the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary,
and an austere manner of life in keeping with the Gospel,
that shall be to all a good example of the observance of the law of God
and the practice of the Christian virtues,
especially that of purity.
We further promise you to be united with the Holy Father,
with the hierarchy and with our priests,
in order thus to set up a barrier
to the growing confrontation directed against the Magisterium,
that threatens the very foundation of the Church.
Under your protection,
we want moreover to be apostles of this sorely needed unity of prayer
and love for the Pope,
on whom we invoke your special protection.
And lastly, insofar as is possible,
we promise to lead those souls with whom we come in contact
to a renewed devotion to you.
Mindful that atheism has caused shipwreck in the faith
to a great number of the faithful,
that desecration has entered into the holy temple of God,
and that evil and sin are spreading more and more throughout the world,
we make so bold as to lift our eyes trustingly to you,
O Mother of Jesus and our merciful and powerful Mother,
and we invoke again today
and await from you the salvation of all your children,
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
[With ecclesiastical approval]
Friday is the Day dedicated to Christ's Passion and His Sacred Heart
O SACRATISSIMUM Cor Iesu, Tu beatae Margaritae Mariae desiderium regnandi super christianas familias pandisti1: ecce ut tibi placeamus adsumus hodie, ut plenum tuum super nostram familiam imperium proclamemus. Volumus deinceps tuam vitam vivere, volumus in sinu familiae nostrae florere virtutes, quibus Tu in terris pacem promisisti, volumus longe arcere a nobis spiritum mundi, quem Tu damnasti. Tu regnabis in mente nostra fidei nostrae simplicitate, in corde nostro tui solius amore, quo flagrabit erga te et cuius vivam servabimus flammam frequenti divinae Eucharistiae receptione. Dignare, Cor divinum, nobis praeesse in unum convenientibus, benedicere negotiis spiritualibus et temporalibus, arcere molestias, sanctificare gaudia, poenas levare. Si quando misere quis nostrum in tantum aerumnam inciderit ut te affligat, fac in memoriam illi redigas, Cor Iesu, te cum peccatore, quem paenitet, plenum esse bonitatis et misericordiae. Et quum hora separationis insonuerit et mors in familiae nostrae sinum luctum intulerit, nos omnes, sive abeuntes sive manentes, tuis aeternis decretis nos subiiciemus. Hoc solatio erit nobis, animo recogitare venturum esse diem, in quo familia nostra, in caelo coniuncta, tuam gloriam, tua beneficia in aeternum cantare poterit. Dignetur Cor immaculatum Mariae, dignetur gloriosus Patriarcha sanctus Ioseph tibi hanc consecrationem offerre, eiusque vivam in nobis singulis diebus vitae nostrae conservare memoriam. Vivat Cor Iesu, Regis et Patris nostri! Amen.
O MOST SACRED Heart of Jesus, Thou didst reveal to the blessed Margaret Mary Thy desire to rule over Christian families; behold, in order to please Thee, we stand before Thee this day to proclaim Thy full sovereignty over our family. We desire henceforth to live Thy life, we desire that the virtues to which Thou hast promised peace on earth may flower in the bosom or our family; we desire to keep far from us the spirit of the world, which Thou hast condemned. Thou art King of our minds by the simplicity of our faith; Thou art King of our hearts by our love of Thee alone, with which our hearts are on fire and whose flame we shall keep alive by frequently receiving the Holy Eucharist. Be pleased, O Sacred Heart, to preside over our gathering together, to bless our spiritual and temporal affairs, to ward off all annoyance from us, and to hallow our joys and comfort our sorrows. If any of us has ever been so unhappy as to fall into the misery of displeasing Thee, grant that he may remember, O Heart of Jesus, that Thou art full of goodness and mercy toward the repentant sinner. And when the hour of separation strikes and death enters our family circle, whether we go or whether we stay, we shall all bow humbly before Thine eternal decrees. This shall be our consolation; to remember that the day will come when our entire family, once more united in heaven, shall be able to sing of Thy glory and Thy goodness forever. May the immaculate Heart of Mary and the glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph vouchsafe to offer Thee this our act of consecration and to keep the memory thereof alive in us all the days of our lives. Glory to the Heart of Jesus, our King and our Father! Amen.
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are prayed on Friday
Chaplet of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ in Latin
Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady in English
Latin Monastic Office for today from Le Barroux in France Texts also provided
The Reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict for August 25
LXVII. De Fratribus in Viam Directis
l Dirigendi fratres in via omnium fratrum vel abbatis se orationi commendent,
2 et semper ad orationem ultimam operis Dei commemoratio omnium absentum fiat.
3 Revertentes autem de via fratres ipso die quo redeunt per omnes canonicas horas, dum expletur opus Dei, prostrati solo oratorii
4 ab omnibus petant orationem propter excessos, ne qui forte surripuerint in via visus aut auditus malae rei aut otiosi sermonis.
5 Nec praesumat quisquam referre alio quaecumque foris monasterium viderit aut audierit, quia plurima destructio est.
6 Quod si quis praesumpserit, vindictae regulari subiaceat.
7 Similiter et qui praesumpserit claustra monasterii egredi vel quocumque ire vel quippiam quamvis parvum sine iussione abbatis facere.
Chapter 67. Brothers who are sent on a journey
1 Brothers sent on a journey are to commend themselves to the prayers of all the brothers and of the abbot;
2 and always, at the last prayer of the Work of God, all those who are absent should be remembered.
3 Brothers returning from a journey, on the same day they come back, are to lie prostrate on the floor of the oratory at all the canonical hours at the end of the Work of God:
4 they request the prayers of all for their faults, in case they have seen or heard anything evil on their journey or have fallen into idle talk.
5 No one shall presume to tell others what he may have seen or heard outside the monastery, for this is very destructive.
6 If anyone so presumes, he is to be subjected to the punishment of the Rule.
7 It is to be the same with one who presumes to leave the enclosure of the monastery, whether to go anywhere or do anything, however small, without the order of the abbot.
Today's Celebration of the Mass
Jesu Christi Passio sit semper in cordibus nostris
May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts
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