Catholic devotions for 1st August

Scroll down for today's:

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 Saints Faith, Hope and Charity, seen here with their mother, Saint Sophia

Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity (or Love) (Latin: Fides, Spes et Caritas), are a group of Christian martyred saints who are venerated together with their mother, Sophia ("Wisdom").

Although earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology commemorated Saints Faith, Hope and Charity on 1 August and their mother Sophia on 30 September, the present text of this official but professedly incomplete catalog of saints of the Roman Catholic Church has no feast dedicated to the three saints or their mother: the only Sophia included is an early Christian virgin martyr of Picenum in Italy, commemorated with her companion Vissia on 12 April; another early Christian martyr, Saint Faith (Fides), of Aquitania (southern France), is celebrated on 6 October, a Saint Hope (Spes), an abbot of Nursia who died in about 517, is commemorated on 23 May, and saint Charity (Caritas) is included, although saints with somewhat similar names, Carissa and Carissima, are given, respectively under 16 April and 7 September. Their feast day of August 1 was not entered in the General Roman Calendar, and they have since been removed from the (Conciliar) Roman Martyrology.

References of the time of Gregory the Great suggest two groups of martyrs, mother and daughters, one buried on the Aurelian Way and the other on the Via Appia. According to the Passio, Sophia was a widow of Milan who gave away her possessions and moved to Rome with her daughters. Her daughters were martyred before her and she buried them at Via Appia. She died a natural death three days later while praying at the grave of her daughters. The oldest version of the Passio is BHL 2966. Caesar Baronius introduced the saints to the Roman Martyrology in the late 16th century.

Source

Semen est sanguis Christianorum

The blood of Christians is the seed of the Church 

Tertullian, Apologeticum, 50

The Reading from the Martyrology

This Day, the First Day of August

At Rome, on Mount Esquiline, the dedication of the Church of St. Peter in Chains.

The Miracle of the Chains

At Antioch, the martyrdom of the seven holy brothers, the Machabees, and their mother, who suffered under king Antiochus Epiphanes. Their relics were transferred to Rome, and placed in the Church of St. Peter, just mentioned.

At Eonie, the holy virgins Faith, Hope and Charity, who won the crown of martyrdom under the emperor Adrian.

Also, at Rome, on the Latin road, the holy martyrs Bonus, a priest, Faustus and Maurus, with nine others, mentioned in the Acts of Pope St. Stephen.

At Philadelphia, in Arabia, the holy martyrs Cyril, Aquila, Peter, Domitian, Rufus, and Menander, crowned on the same day.

At Pergen, in Pamphylia, the holy martyrs Leontius, Attius, Alexander, and six husbandmen, who were beheaded in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Flavian.

At Gerona, in Spain, the birthday of the holy martyr Felix. After enduring various torments, by order of Dacian, he was cut with knives until he gave his undaunted soul to Christ.

At Vercelli, St. Eusebius, bishop and martyr, who for the confession of the Catholic faith, was banished to Scythopolis and then to Cappadocia by the emperor Constantius. Afterwards returning to his church, he suffered martyrdom in the persecution of the Arians. His feast is kept on the 16th of December.

In the diocese of Paris, St. Justin, martyr.

At Vienne, St. Verus, bishop.

At Winchester, in England, St. Ethelwold, bishop.

In the territory of Liswin, St. Nemesius, confessor.

And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis. 

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

Source

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Composed by Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, shortly after his reception into the One, True Fold of the Redeemer

Friday is the Day dedicated to the Christ's Passion and His Sacred Heart

Fridays are penitential days and Catholics are to keep in mind Christ's suffering and to sacrifice something for the sake of penance and discipline. The traditional way to do this is to abstain from meat. On this day also, many Catholics make what is known as the "First Fridays Devotion" in honor of the Sacred Heart. This entails going to Mass and receiving Communion in reparation to the Sacred Heart on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months (see Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus). Another Friday practice is to kneel and pray five Paters and five Aves, especially at 3:00pm, the hour Christ died on the Cross.

Prayers for every day of the week

Source

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are prayed on Friday

"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 August 1

L  DE FRATRIBUS QUI LONGE AB ORATORIO LABORANT AUT IN VIA SUNT

1 Fratres qui omnino longe sunt in labore et non possunt occurrere hora competenti ad oratorium  

2 et abbas hoc perpendet, quia ita est- 

3 agant ibidem opus Dei, ubi operantur, cum tremore divino flectentes genua. 

4 Similiter, qui in itinere directi sunt, non eos praetereant horae constitutae, sed ut possunt agant sibi et servitutis pensum non neglegant reddere.

CHAPTER 50:  BROTHERS WHO WORK FAR FROM THE ORATORY OR ARE ON A JOURNEY

1 Brothers who work some distance away and are not able to come at the proper hour to the oratory 

2 (and the abbot judges that this is the case) 

3 should perform the Work of God there where they are working, bending their knees in reverent awe. 

4 Similarly, those sent on a journey should not allow the appointed hours to pass them by; instead, insofar as they can, they should perform them there, thus not neglecting to offer their quota of service.

Today's Celebration of the Mass

Also Feast of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs

Meditation for the 1st Day of the Month from the School of Jesus Crucified

Jesus takes leave of His Blessed Mother

Jesus XPI Passio sit semper in cordibus nostris

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts

"The Cross is our trophy against the demons, our sword against sin, and the sword Christ used to pierce the serpent. The Cross is the Father's will, the glory of the Only-Begotten, the joy of the Spirit, the pride of the angels, the guarantee of the Church." -St. John Chrysostom