Catholic devotions for the 11th November

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Saint of the Day/ Feast

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 Martin

THE END OF ST. MARTIN’S LIFE

St. Martin knew his death long time tofore his departing, the which he showed to his brethren.

The Lesson of the Water Birds

And whiles he visited the diocese of Toul for cause to appease discord that was there. And as he went he saw in a water birds that plunged in the water, which awaited and espied fishes and ate them, and then he said: In this manner devils espy fools. They espy them that be not ware; they take them that know not, but be ignorant, and devour them that be taken. And they may not be fulfilled ne satiate with them that they devour.

And then he commanded them to leave the water, and that they should go into desert countries, and they assembled them and went into the woods and mountains.

St. Martin’s Death

And then he abode a little in that diocese, and began to wax feeble in his body and said to his disciples that he should depart and be dissolved. Then they all weeping said: Father, wherefore leavest thou us, or to whom shalt thou leave us all desolate and discomforted? The ravishing wolves shall assail thy flock, and beasts.

And he then, moved with their weepings, wept also, and prayed, saying: Lord if I be yet necessary to thy people I refuse nothing the labour, thy will be fulfilled.

He doubted what he might best do, for he would not gladly leave them, ne he would not long be departed from Jesu Christ. And when he had a little while been tormented with the fevers and his disciples prayed him, whereas he lay in the ashes, dust and hair, that they might lay some straw in his couch where he lay, he said: It appertaineth not but that a Christian man should die in hair and in ashes, and if I should give to you another ensample I myself should sin.

And he had his hands and his eyes towards the heaven, and his spirit was not loosed from prayer. And as he lay towards his brethren, he prayed that they would remove a little his body, and he said: Brethren, let me behold more the heaven than the earth, so that the spirit may address him to our Lord.

And this saying he saw the devil that was there, and St. Martin said to him: Wherefore standest thou here, thou cruel beast? Thou shalt find in me nothing sinful ne mortal, the bosom of Abraham shall receive me.

And with this word he rendered and gave up unto our Lord his spirit, in the year of our Lord three hundred four score and eighteen, and the year of his life eighty-one. And his cheer shone as it had been glorified, and the voice of angels was heard singing of many that were there.

His Body is Returned to Tours

And they of Poictiers assembled at his death as well as they of Tours and there was great altercation. For the Poictevins said, "He is our monk, we require to have him," and the others said, "He was taken from you and given to us." And at midnight all the Poictevins slept, and they of Tours put him out of the window, and was borne with great joy and had over the water of Loire by a boat unto the city of Tours.

Severus Hears the Angels Sing

And as Severus, bishop of Cologne, on a Sunday after Matins, visited and went about the holy places, the same hour that St. Martin departed out of this world, he heard the angels singing in heaven. Then he called his archdeacon and demanded him if he heard anything, and he said: Nay. And the bishop bade him to hearken diligently, and he began to stretch forth his neck and address his ears and leaned upon his staff. Then the bishop put himself to prayer for him. Then he said that he heard voices in heaven, to whom the bishop said: It is my Lord, St. Martin, which is departed out of the world, and the angels bear him now into heaven. And the devils were at his passing, but they found nothing in him and went away all confused.

And the archdeacon marked the day and the hour, and knew verily after, that St. Martin passed out of this world that same time. And Severus, the monk which wrote his life, as he slept a little after Matins, like as he witnesseth in his epistle, St. Martin appeared to him clad in an alb, his cheer clear, the eyes sparkling, his hair purple, holding a book in his right hand, which the said Severus had written of his life, and when he had given him his blessing, he saw him mount up into heaven. And as he coveted for to have gone with him, he awoke, and anon the messengers came, which said that that same time St. Martin departed out of this world.

St. Ambrose in a Vision Says the Office for the Dead

And in the same day St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, sang mass, and slept upon the altar between the lesson of the prophecy and the epistle, and none durst wake him, and the subdeacon durst not read the epistle without his leave. And when he had slept the space of three hours they awoke him, and said: Sire, the hour is passed and the people be weary for to abide, wherefore command that the clerk read the epistle.

And he said to them: Be not angry. Martin my brother is passed unto God, and I have done the office of his departing and burying, and I could no sooner accomplish ne make an end of the last orison because ye hasted me so sore.

Then they marked the day and the hour, and they found that St. Martin was then passed out of this world and gone to heaven.

MIRACLES OF ST. MARTIN

Master John Beleth saith that kings of France were wont to bear his cope [in Latin, cappa] in battle, and because they kept this cope they were called chaplains [cappelani].

And after his death three score and four years, when St. Perpetua had enlarged his church, and would transport the body of St. Martin therein, they were in fastings and vigils once, twice, thrice, and they might not move the sepulchre. And as they would have lifted it, a right fair old man appeared to them and said: Wherefore tarry ye, see ye not that St. Martin is all ready to help you if ye set to your hands with him?

And then anon they lifted up the sepulchre and brought it to the place whereas he is now worshipped, and then anon this old man vanished away.

This translation was made in the month of July. And it is said that there were then two fellows, one lame and that other was blind, the lame taught the blind man the way, and the blind bare the lame man, and thus gat they much money by truandise, and they heard say that many sick men were healed when the body of St. Martin was borne out of the church on procession. And they were afraid lest the body should be brought tofore their house, and that peradventure they might be healed, which in no wise they would not be, for if they were healed, they should not get so much money by truandise as they did. And therefore they fled from that place and went to another church whereas they supposed that the body should not come. And as they fled they encountered and met the holy body suddenly, unpurveyed. And because God giveth many benefits to men not desired, and that would not have them, they were both healed against their will, and were right sorry therefor.

And St. Ambrose saith thus of St. Martin:

He destroyed the temple of the cursed error, he raised the banners of pity, he raised dead men, he cast devils out of bodies in which they were, and alleged by remedy of health them that travailed in divers maladies and sicknesses. And he was found so perfect that he clad Jesu Christ instead of a poor man, and the vesture that the poor man had taken, the Lord of all the world clad him withal. That was a good largess that divinity covered. O glorious vesture and inestimable gift, that clothed and covered both the knight and the king. This was a gift that no man may praise, of which he deserved to clothe the deity. Lord, thou gavest to him worthily the reward of thy confession, thou puttedst under him worthily the cruelty of the Arians, and he worthily for the love of martyrdom never dreaded the torments of the persecutors. What shall he receive for the oblation of his body, that for the quantity of a little vesture, which was but half a mantle, deserved to clothe and cover God and also to see him? And he gave such great medicine to them that trusted in God that some he healed by his prayers and others by his commandments.

Then let us pray to St. Martin, et cetera.

Source

The Reading from the Martyrology

This Day, the Eleventh Day of November

At Tours in Gaul, the birthday of Blessed Martin, bishop and confessor. His life was so resplendent with miracles that he merited to raise three dead men to life. A totum duplex feast. 

At Cotyaeus in Phrygia, the celebrated suffering of St. Menas. He was an Egyptian soldier who, in the persecution of Diocletian, cast away his military insignia and withdrew to the desert to wage an interior war for his heavenly King. Presenting himself before a public gathering, he loudly announced that he was a Christian. He was first subjected to severe tortures. Finally, as he was kneeling in prayer and giving thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, he was put to the sword. After his death, he became famous for miracles. A memory. 

At Ravenna, the holy martyrs Valentine, Felician, and Victorinus, who were crowned in the persecution of Diocletian

In Mesopotamia, St. Athenodorus, martyr. He was tortured with fire and tried by other punishments. Finally, he was condemned to capital punishment. When the executioner fell to the ground and no one dared to strike him with the sword, the martyr, while engrossed in prayer, went to his rest in the Lord. At Lyons in Gaul, St. Veranus, bishop, whose life was noteworthy for his faith and the merits of his virtue. 

At Constantinople, St. Theodore, Abbot of Studium.55 He fought zealously for the Catholic faith against the Iconoclasts and became famous throughout the Universal Church. 

In the monastery of Grottaferrata on the site of Tusculanum, the Abbot St. Bartholomew, a companion of St. Nilus, whose life he wrote. 

In the province of Samnium (Central Italy), Blessed Mennas, anchorite. Pope St. Gregory has commemorated his virtues and miracles

Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis. 

("All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us", from the Litaniae Sanctorum, the Litany of the Saints)

Source

November is the Month of the Poor Souls in Purgatory

Almighty God, with Whom do live the Souls of the perfect, and in Whose holy keeping are placed the Souls of those that depart hence in an inferior degree of Thy grace, they being by their imperfect char¬ acter rendered unworthy of Thy presence, and therefore detained in a state of grief and suspended hopes, as we bless Thee for the Saints already admitted to Thy glory, so we humbly offer our prayers for Thy afflicted servants, who continually wait and sigh for the day of their deliverance. 

Pardon their sins, supply their want of preparation and wipe away the tears from their eyes, that they may see Thee, and in Thy glorious sight eternally rejoice, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

Source

Saturday is the Day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and Her Immaculate Heart

Saturdays are, traditionally, the days Catholics go to Confession in preparation for receiving the Eucharist on Sundays (some Catholics might make a habit of going to Confession on Saturdays; other might go before Mass on Sunday, and, of course, as always, whenever needed). Also on Saturdays, many Catholics make what is called the "First Saturdays Devotion" which entails going to Mass and receiving Communion on the first Saturday of the month for 5 consecutive months in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Source

The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary are prayed on Saturday

"I would like to remind you that the Rosary is a biblical prayer, all filled with the Holy Scriptures." It is a prayer from the heart, in which the repetition of the Ave Maria directs the thought and affection towards Christ, and thus is made a confident prayer to Him and our Mother. It is a prayer that helps to meditate on the Word of God and assimilate the Eucharistic Communion, on the model of Mary who kept in her heart everything Jesus did and said and even His Presence. " Pope Benedict XVI

The Rosary in Latin

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 November 11

XXXIV SI OMNES AEQUALITER DEBEANT NECESSARIA ACCIPERE 

1 Sicut scriptum est: Dividebatur singulis prout cuique opus erat. 

2 Ubi non dicimus ut personarum quod absit acceptio sit, sed infirmitatum consideratio; 

3 ubi qui minus indiget agat Deo gratias et non contristetur, 

4 qui vero plus indiget humilietur pro infirmitate, non extollatur pro misericordia; 

5 et ita omnia membra erunt in pace. 

6 Ante omnia, ne murmurationis malum pro qualicumque causa in aliquo qualicumque verbo vel significatione appareat; 

7 quod si deprehensus fuerit, districtiori disciplinae subdatur.

CHAPTER 34: WHETHER ALL SHOULD RECEIVE NECESSARY THINGS EQUALLY 

1 As it is written:  Distribution was made to each one according to his need. (Acts 4:35).  

2 We do not mean by this that there should be personal favoritism (may it never happen!) but rather that infirmities should be taken into consideration: 

3 thus one who requires less should give thanks to God and be not saddend; 

4 and one who requires more should be humbled because of his infirmity - not exalted by the mercy shown him, 

5 and in this way all the members may be at peace.  

6 Above all, the evil of murmuring must not appear for any reason, through any word or sign whatever: 

7 if someone is found guilty of this is to be subjected to very severe discipline.

Today's Celebration of the Mass

Meditation for the 11th Day of the Month from the School of Jesus Crucified

Jesus XPI Passio sit semper in cordibus nostris

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts