by Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG

On 6 August, Holy Mother Church celebrates the great feast of the Transfiguration and begins a recapitulated Lent.  Long associated with this day is the blessing of grapes.  Writing in the thirteenth century, William Durandus the Elder, Bishop of Mende (d. A.D. 1296), who did for the liturgy what St. Thomas Aquinas did for theology, gives the following account of this practice in his Rationale Divinorum Officium (VII, XXII, 2):

Note that in some places on this day, the Blood of Christ is confected from new wine, if it can be found, or at least a small amount [of juice] from a ripe grape is squeezed into the chalice.  And also, clusters of grapes are blessed, from which the people take a share [communicat], and this is the reason why.  For on the day of the Last Supper, Jesus said to His disciples: And I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father [Mat 26:29].  Because that which He called new, and also the Transfiguration, pertains to that glorious renewal, which Christ had after His Resurrection, and which the faithful will have after their resurrection; therefore, on this feast, the Blood of Christ is confected from new wine, and also because of this, on this day new grapes are blessed.

While Durandus presents a spiritual foundation for the practice of blessing grapes on 6 August, this must be considered a later development, one which came about after the origins of this practice had been forgotten.  The blessing of grapes on 6 August was originally, in fact, associated with the Feast of St. Sixtus II (d. 6 August A.D. 258), originally kept at Rome on 6 August prior to the adoption of the Feast of the Transfiguration (after the Feast of the Transfiguration was adopted, Sts. Sixtus and Companions would come be observed as a commemoration on the same day).  According to a tradition, it was Pope St. Sixtus himself who established

the custom of blessing grapes at the liturgy, in consequence of which the practice came to be very generally observed on his feast day in later centuries.  The day was held to be propitious as the grapes by then were generally ripe…When the feast of the Transfiguration came to be observed on 6 August, two Masses were celebrated on that day [one of the Transfiguration and one of St. Sixtus], and the blessing took place in the Mass of the Saint.¹

It is also noted that the blessing of grapes during the liturgy, at certain times and places, was additionally done on the “25 July, the joint feast of St. James and St. Christopher.”²

The point in the liturgy, that is the point during the Mass, at which the grapes would have been blessed was at the location of or as part of the Per quem hæc omnia prayer at the end of the Roman Canon, which seems to have been originally used for blessing “natural products.”³  In fact, the Gregorian Sacramentary⁴ preserves the text for the blessing of grapes which would have been added to the Per quem hæc omnia in Rome on the Nones of August (6 August), the Feast of St. Sixtus II:

Benedic domine et hos fructus nouos uuę./ quos tu domine rore cęli . et inundantia pluuiarum . et temporum serenitate . atque tranquillitate . ad maturitatem perducere dignatus es . et dedisti ea  ad usus nostros cum gratiarum actione percipere . in nomine domini nostri iesu christi . per quem hęc omnia domine semper bona creas.⁵

While the Roman Ritual does not have a blessing of grapes specifically designated for 6 August or for the Feast of the Transfiguration, there is a general Blessing of Grapes (Uvarum) which can be used at any time and, fittingly, on the Feast, which is presented below in the both the Latin and in translation.  It should be noted that a comparison of the text above found in the Gregorian Sacramentary and of that found in the Ritual shows that there is great overlap between the two of them, with only some slight differences (indicated in bold above and below and explained below), indicating the Ritual preserved this ancient Roman blessing of grapes whose origin goes back to early Roman Christianity.

℣. Adiutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
℟. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
℣. Dóminus vobíscum.
℟. Et cum spíritu tuo.

Béne✠dic, Dómine, et hos fructus novos víneæ [“of grapes” changed to “of the vine”], quos tu rore cæli, et abundántia [“inundation” changed to “abundance”] pluviárum, et témporum serenitáte atque tranquillitáte, ad maturitátem perdúcere dignátus es, et dedísti eos [change to eos to reflect back to fructus novos, here the reference seems to be more vague] ad usus nostros cum gratiárum actióne percípere in nómine Dómini nostri Iesu Christi: Qui tecum vivitet regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

Et aspergantur aqua benedicta.

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with your spirit.

Let us pray.
Lord, bless ✠ this new fruit of the vine, which in Thy benevolence Thou have ripened by heavenly dew, an abundance of rainfall, gentle breezes, and fair weather; and have given us to use with gratitude in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, forever and ever.
℟. Amen.

They are sprinkled with holy water.⁶

But the blessing of grapes on the feast of the Transfiguration is not limited to those churches which follow the Roman tradition.  According to A Byzantine Rite Liturgical Year:

This feast [of the Transfiguration] falls during the time when the fruits of the earth reach maturity.  From the earliest times in the Eastern Church, on this day fruit is blessed in thanksgiving to God for the first fruits of the earth.  This custom was adopted by the Christian Church from the Old Testament which prescribed that fruit be brought to the Temple of the Lord.  In the Book of Exodus we read: “You shall carry the first-fruits of the corn of your ground to the house of the Lord your God.” (23,19)  In the Book of Leviticus we read: “When you shall have entered the land which I shall give you, and shall reap your corn, you shall bring sheaves of ears, and first-fruits of your harvest to the priest.” (23,10)

The custom of blessing the first-fruits in church was prescribed in the Canons of the Holy Apostles at the end of the third century.  The Apostolic Constitutions of the fourth century have a prayer for the blessing of first-fruits.  The local Synod of Carthage (318), in the forty-sixth rule gave prescriptions concerning the first-fruits that are brought to church.  The Sixth Ecumenical Council of 691 spoke of the blessing of the first-fruits of grapes (the vine) and wheat…

In Greece, in the month of August grapes and wheat, which are the more important fruits, reach their maturity.  For this reason, the custom of blessing the grapes and ears of wheat in church on the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord prevailed there.  In Rus-Ukraine, grapes of the vine were replaced by apples and other fruits.⁷

According to this, the origin of the blessing of first-fruits in the Christian tradition began in imitation of what was prescribed in the Old Testament and was codified by Church practice, as witnessed in ecclesiastical writings, and even by a decree of an Ecumenical Council.  The Byzantine practice of blessings of grapes on the Feast of the Transfiguration, according to the above, has an origin in Greece, as it was around the time of this Feast that grapes are harvested there.  While this explanation does shed some light on the ancient Christian practice of blessing fruit in general, it does not explain why the feast of the Transfiguration, as opposed to some other day or feast (the Feast of the Dormition/Assumption of Our Lady is only a few days later), was chosen for the blessing of grapes.  Though, perhaps, the Greeks adopted the Roman day, which predates the introduction of the Feast at Rome, and knowledge of this borrowing has been obscured in the East, and, just as in the West, the blessing of grapes became associated with the Feast of the Transfiguration rather than with St. Sixtus II.  In any case, both at Rome and in Greece, early August is the time grapes come to maturity and the Christian instinct led our forefathers in the Faith to mark an event of such importance liturgically.

Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG was ordained in the fall of 2019 and was invested as an Ecclesiastical Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George in the summer of 2025.  He currently resides at the FSSP Canonical House of St. Casimir in Nashua, NH, and ministers at St. Stanislaus parish.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

1. King, Archdale, A. Liturgy of the Roman Church. (London: Longmans, Green and Co.,1957), pp. 340-341.
2. Ibid., p. 341
3. For a discussion on the purpose of the Per quem hæc omnia see Jungmann, Joseph, A. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, vol. 2. Trans. Brunner, Francis A. (New York: Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1955), pp. 259-264.
4. The Gregorian Sacramentary is a Mass book originating in Rome, prior to A.D. 800 and possibly dating to the time of St. Gregory the Great himself (A.D. 590-604), containing the texts necessary for a priest to celebrate Mass (the orations, prefaces, Canon, etc.).  For a discussion about the date of this work see: CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Liturgical Books.
5. The Gregorian Sacramentary Under Charles the Great. Ed. Wilsom, H. A. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1915), p. 92.
6. Rituale Romanum [1957], Titulus IX – Caput 7, 2; English adapted from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN (2, XI, VIII, 2).
7. Katrij, Julian. A Byzantine Rite Liturgical Year. Trans. Wysochansky, Demetrius. (Detroit: Basilian Fathers Publication, 1983), pp. 422-423.

by Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG

In May of 2026, I accompanied the servers of the parish, along with some of their fathers, on a self-organized pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, perhaps better known as the Shrine of the North American Martyrs.  It marks the area where Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil, and Jean de Lalande were martyred and also the birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.  Prior to boarding the bus, Mass was celebrated and the Blessing of Pilgrims Before Setting Out was invoked over those making the journey.  The Blessing of Pilgrims on Their Return was duly conferred at the conclusion of the day.  All of this having happened, I thought the readers of the Missive would be interested in reading the ceremonies from the Roman Ritual which were used.

To begin, then, the following text, presented in red, is the rubrics presented at the beginning of the Blessing of Pilgrims before they set out for the holy shrines (benedictio peregrinorum ad loca sancta prodeuntium).

In accord with ancient ecclesiastical discipline, pilgrims who are to visit the holy shrines should obtain a letter of recommendation from their Ordinary or pastor before they set out.  Having put their affairs in order, they prepare themselves with sacramental confession, assist at Mass and receive holy communion. In this Mass the Collect for pilgrims (pro re gravi) is said.  After Mass they kneel before the priest who says the following¹

The Mass prayers referenced at the end of the above rubrics, taken from the Votive Mass for Pilgrims and Travelers (Missa votiva pro peregrinantibus et iter agentibus), are as follows:²

Collect: Hear, O Lord, our humble prayers, and set Thy servants in the path of Thy salvation; that amidst all the changes and chances of this life, they may ever be sheltered by Thy help.  Through our Lord…

Secret: Be appeased, O Lord, by our humble prayers and in Thy bounty receive these offerings which we make to Thee on behalf of Thy servants; send Thy grace before them to guide their steps, and sending it with them be pleased to accompany them on their way; that by the protection of Thy mercy, we may rejoice both in their progress and in their safety.  Through our Lord…

Postcommunion: May Thy sacraments, O Lord, which we have received, preserve Thy servants who hope in Thee; and defend them from all assaults of the enemy.  Through our Lord…

After the rubrics begins the text of the ceremony:

Antiphon: May the almighty and merciful Lord lead you in the way of peace and prosperity.  May the Angel Raphael be your companion on the journey and bring you back to your homes in peace, health, and happiness.

Luke 1.68-79³

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! * He has visited His people and brought about its redemption.
He has raised for us a stronghold of salvation * in the house of David His servant,
And redeemed the promise He had made * through the mouth of His holy prophets of old–
To grant salvation from our foes * and from the hand of all that hate us;
To deal in mercy with our fathers * and be mindful of His holy covenant,
Of the oath he had sworn to our father Abraham, * that He would enable us–
Rescued from the clutches of our foes–* to worship Him without fear,
In holiness and observance of the Law, * in His presence, all our days.
And you, my little one, will be hailed ‘Prophet of the Most High’; * for the Lord’s precursor you will be to prepare His ways;
You are to impart to His people knowledge of salvation * through forgiveness of their sins.
Thanks be to the merciful heart of our God! * a dawning Light from on high will visit us.
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.

Antiphon: May the almighty and merciful Lord lead you in the way of peace and prosperity. May the Angel Raphael be your companion on the journey and bring you back to your homes in peace, health, and happiness.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Our Father (the rest inaudibly until:)
℣. And lead us not into temptation.
℟. But deliver us from evil.
℣. Save Thy servants.
℟. Who trust in Thee, my God.
℣. Lord, send them aid from Thine holy place.
℟. And watch over them from Sion.
℣. Let them find in Thee, Lord, a fortified tower.
℟. In the face of the enemy.
℣. Let the enemy have no power over them.
℟. And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm them.
℣. May the Lord be praised at all times.
℟. May God, our helper, grant us a happy journey.
℣. Lord, shows us Thy ways.
℟. And lead us along Thy paths.
℣. Oh, that our life be bent.
℟. On keeping Thy precepts.
℣. For the crooked ways will be made straight.
℟. And the rough places plain.
℣. God has given His angels charge over you.
℟. To guard you in all your undertakings.
℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.
℟. And let my cry come onto Thee.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with your spirit.

Let us pray.
God, Who led the children of Israel dry-shod through the sea, and showed the way to the three Magi by the guidance of a star; grant these pilgrims, we pray, a happy journey and peaceful days, so that, with Thine holy angel as a guide, they may safely reach their destination and finally come to the haven of everlasting salvation.

God, Who led Thy servant, Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and kept him safe in all his wanderings; may it please Thee, we pray, also to watch over these servants of Thine. Be to them, Lord, a help in their preparations, comfort on the way, shade in the heat, shelter in the rain and cold, a carriage in tiredness, a shield in adversity, a staff in insecurity, a haven in shipwreck; so that under Thy guidance they may happily reach their destination, and finally return safe to their homes.

Lord, we beg Thee to hear our request that Thou guide the steps of Thy servants along the path of well-being that comes from Thee, and that in the midst of this fickle world they may always live under Thy protection.

Grant, we pray, O almighty God, that Thy family of pilgrims find a safe route; and heeding the admonitions of blessed John, the precursor, come finally to Him whom John foretold, Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hear, Lord, our prayers, and kindly accompany Thy servants on their journey; and as Thou are present everywhere lend them Thine aid at all times, so that with Thee as their shield they will be defended from all dangers and pay Thee their homage of gratitude; through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.

May the peace and blessing of almighty God, Father, Son, ✠ and Holy Ghost, descend upon you and remain with you forever.
℟. Amen.

They are sprinkled with holy water.

If there is only one pilgrim the prayers are said in the singular; but if the priest who bestows the blessing is a member of the pilgrimage they are said in the plural.

The main theme of the ceremony is the protection and safe return of the pilgrims.  The blessing fittingly begins with the Benedictus, the Canticle of Zachary, the father of St. John the Baptist, with its reference to the ways of the Lord, which in this case refers to the way of the pilgrimage.  After the versicles and responses, reference is made to the divinely guided and protected journeys of the Israelites out of Egypt, of the Magi, and of Abraham with the ceremony asking God to watch over the pilgrims in a similar way.  The text in the second prayer, asking God to accompany the pilgrims in a variety of ways, is similar to a passage in the Prophet Isaias : “And the Lord will create upon every place of mount Sion, and where He is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection.  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain” (Isa 4:5-6).⁴  The requests are also reminiscent of the fourth stanza of the Veni, Sancte Spíritus, the Pentecost sequence, which reads: “Thou in toil art comfort sweet; Pleasant coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe.”  Overall, this Blessing of Pilgrims before they depart follows closely to the Itinerarium which can be used for any travel.

The translation of the blessing for pilgrims on their return (benedictio peregrinorum post reditum) is as follows:⁵

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.

Antiphon: Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.

Psalm 127 [Vulgate]⁶

Happy are you who fear the Lord, * who walk in His ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; * happy shall you be, and favored.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine * in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants * around your table.
See, thus is the man blessed * who fears the Lord.
The Lord bless you from Sion: * may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life;
May you see your children’s children. * Peace be upon Israel!
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.

Antiphon: Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Our Father (the rest inaudibly until:)
℣. And lead us not into temptation.
℟. But deliver us from evil.
℣. Blessed are they who come in the name of the Lord.
℟. Blessed be you by the Lord who made heaven and earth.
℣. Look with favor, Lord, on Thy servants and their works.
℟. And keep them in the way of Thy precepts.
℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.
℟. And let my cry come onto Thee.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with your spirit.

Let us pray.
We beg Thee, Lord, be appeased, and lavish on Thy servants pardon and peace, so that being cleansed of all their transgressions they may serve Thee with tranquil hearts.

Almighty everlasting God, the ruler of our lives and destinies, grant to Thy servants continual and abundant peace, so that those whom Thou have brought back safely to their various occupations may bask in the security of Thy protection.

God, the support of the lowly, Thou Who console us by the love of our brethren; bestow Thy grace on our brotherhood, so that we may always see Thy presence in those in whom Thou live by Thy grace; through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.

May the peace and blessing of almighty God, Father, Son, ✠ and Holy Ghost, descend upon you and remain with you forever.
℟. Amen.

They are sprinkled with holy water.

The blessing upon return begins with Psalm 127.  The reference in the Psalm to those “who walk in His ways,” is a reference to the pilgrims who have, by undertaking the pilgrimage, walked in the way of the Lord, and thus serves as a parallel to the Benedictus used in the previous ceremony which also mentions the ways of the Lord.  The first prayer asks for the forgiveness of sins, presumably those which unfortunately may have been committed during the pilgrimage.  The second recognizes that God has brought the pilgrims back safely and asks for His blessing as they return to their normal routines.  Lastly, the third prayer asks for the grace to see God in those in whom He is indwelling.  This prayer also indicates that those who have gone on pilgrimage together form a brotherhood (societati) and that a love exists between them (fraterna dilectione).

The ceremony for blessing departing pilgrims is noticeably longer than that used upon returning, no doubt because going on pilgrimage was, and can still be, a very dangerous affair.

In conclusion, dear reader, if you are ever setting out on a pilgrimage, either alone or with a group, please consider having these ceremonies performed so that you may have available to you all of the graces which the Church desires to offer to her pilgrims.

Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG was ordained in the fall of 2019 and was invested as an Ecclesiastical Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George in the summer of 2025.  He currently resides at the FSSP Canonical House of St. Casimir in Nashua, NH, and ministers at St. Stanislaus parish.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

1. Rituale Romanum [1957], Titulus IX – Caput 4, 1; English adapted from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN (2, XI, III, 8).
2. Translations taken from Lefebvre, Gaspar. The Saint Andrew Daily Missal-Regular Edition. (St. Paul: E. M. Lohmann Co., 1940), pp [157], [159].
3. English from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN in the blessing of Epiphany Water (2, II, 5).
4. The similarities are clearer in Latin where the blessing uses “…in æstu umbraculum, in pluvia et frigore tegumentum…,” and the Prophet “et tabernaculum erit in umbraculum diei ab æstu et in securitatem et absconsionem a turbine et a pluvia.“
5. Rituale Romanum [1957], Titulus IX – Caput 4, 2; English adapted from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN (2, XI, III, 9).
6. English from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN in the rite for celebrating marriage (1, VII, II).
   

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.  There is also an index available here for the rest of the articles which includes a calendar with links.)

Now that the Easter season has come to a close and Pentecost and its octave are behind us, there is now an opportunity to look at a few more items from Holy Week that were omitted at the appropriate time for the sake of length. So many different things were occurring at that time of the year that it was not possible (within reason) to describe all of the various events taking place.

We can begin once again on Palm Sunday, corresponding to the tenth day of the first month, the month of Nisan (or Abib), when Moses is instructed by God:

 

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. (Ex 12:1–6)

At this point the reader is probably asking, “Would it not make more sense for the crucifixion to have taken place on the 14th day of Nisan, as the paschal lambs were being sacrificed? This is an interesting question and has been the subject of debate for a very long time, with at least one scholar who held this position arguing that the Last Supper took place on a Tuesday. (!)¹ Generally, the Eastern church holds the opinion that the crucifixion took place at the same time the paschal lambs were being sacrificed  (as they say) on 14 Nisan. This is seemingly the position of St. John’s gospel.  In accord with this assumption the Last Supper could not have been the Passover meal, strictly speaking. Still other commentators have suggested that the supper as recounted in St. John’s gospel was not the Last Supper at all, but a meal that was shared in Bethany the night before.

The Western church (at least liturgically) holds to the history as given by the synoptic gospels. This might seem to go against the deep symbolism of the sacrifice of Christ taking place at the same time as the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. However, this need not be so. I propose that the Paschal lamb and Christ were not sacrificed at the same time, but they were sacrificed on the same day, strictly speaking, if we look at the letter of the law:

“The slaying of the lamb was to take place on the 14th Abib, between the two evenings (Ex. xii. 6). According to the Samaritan, Caraitic view, which is generally regarded as the correct one by modern writers on Jewish antiquities, the expression בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבָּֽיִם refers to the time between six o’clock and half-past seven—the first evening commencing when the sun disappears below the horizon, the second at the time of total darkness.”²

We have seen in a previous article that the Sadducees held power in the temple at the time of Christ and would have tried to observe the absolute letter of the law, implying that the sun would have already set on the 14th, at least when they were sacrificing their own lambs for their personal use.³ The few Samaritans (or perhaps Karaites) remaining in the world today would follow the same practice. Thus the time between sunset and total darkness represents a sort of transitional period, where one can reckon it as both the day preceding and the day following. When complete darkness takes over, there is no longer any doubt that the next day has begun. Since our Lord certainly died well before sunset, at about the ninth hour, (Mt 27:46) it was still definitely the same day, and not the following day (not even ambiguously), while the paschal lamb would have been sacrificed at a time that was (ambiguously) both on the previous day and the following day. The old covenant thus seemed to be offering sacrifice on the cusp of a new day, but one that began in darkness, because the sacrifice was one with which God was pleased but not satisfied, (Ps 49:13–15) an evening sacrifice, as it were. On the other hand, the sacrifice of Calvary took place while the sun was darkened in the middle of the day, at about the ninth hour, just when the darkness that began three hours before was about to end, and a “new” (albeit very short) day was about to commence: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’. . . And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.” (Mt 27:45–46, 50) What the gospel passes over reminding us is that it was then that the darkness was lifting. God had received the sacrifice that pleased Him, that of His beloved Son, and in testimony of this, the declining sun once again gave its full light before the end of the day.

This way of looking at the sacrifice of the paschal lamb can perhaps serve to reconcile the diverging opinions of both the various scholars and the various traditions that tenaciously hold to one day over the other as the “real” day of the crucifixion. This might also explain why the odd expression “between the two evenings” was used in the book of Exodus. The true Paschal Lamb prefigured by the lamb of the old covenant would still be sacrificed “between the two evenings” of the 14th and the 15th of Nisan, but during the day on the first day of Unleavened Bread, after the lamb of the old covenant was sacrificed during the transitional period ending 14 Nisan and beginning 15 Nisan. Thus both the paschal lamb and the Lamb of God are sacrificed on the same day. Each day begins with an evening and ends with an evening, but those evenings are somewhat “fuzzy” in nature.⁴ The old lamb was slaughtered during one of those “fuzzy evenings” and eaten in the middle of the night. Our Lord died on the cross “during the day” but it was just becoming light after a period (three hours) of darkness, just as the old lamb died while it was becoming dark at the end of an ordinary day.

Returning to the tenth day of Nisan, we note that this is also the anniversary of the day Israel comes out of the Jordan river into the promised land after forty years of wandering in the desert. After the deaths of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses, the people were placed under the leadership of Joshua, who led them across the Jordan river as over dry land, in a manner very similar to the crossing of the Red Sea.

The people passed over in haste;  and when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. . . On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant to come up out of the Jordan.” Joshua therefore commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.  And he said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’  then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty; that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.” (Jos 4:10,14–24)

After this crossing, we are told, “On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.” (Jos 4:14) The contrast here is noteworthy. Both the triumphal entrance into Jerusalem (the Holy City, the center of the Holy Land) and the tragedy of the second Joshua (=Jesus) being marked for death coincide with this day of joyful entry into the promised land. “Hosanna!”’ gives way to “crucify him!” The first Joshua, like his fulfillment in Jesus, are celebrated on this earth on the same day. The first Joshua, however, does not have to bear the humiliation of the cross; instead he celebrates the first Passover in the promised land with the people of Israel. Our Lord celebrates His last Passover on the night before his passion and death, after entering the Holy City, the figure of the eternal Temple. He told his apostles, “I tell you I shall not eat it [again] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 22:16)

The epistle for Palm Sunday fits well with this theme:

Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5-11)

He accepted what we will not easily accept, and he accepted it under the most gruesome and humiliating circumstances imaginable, but God glorified Him when He raised Him up from the dead.

There is yet another grouping of events taking place on this day, somewhat in parallel to the above. In the last eight chapters of the prophecy of Ezekiel, the prophet in exile in Babylon is given a very long and detailed vision of a new temple. It was always understood by the Jews returning home after their exile in Babylon that this was a symbolic description of some ideal temple, and its specifications were not incorporated into the new temple that was built after their return from their time in exile:

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was conquered, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city opposite me. When he brought me there, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway.  And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your mind upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” (Ezek 40:1-4)

One of the things Ezekiel saw was water flowing out of the temple: “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the right side of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.” (Ezek 47:1)

This is the origin of the antiphon “Vidi Aquam,” used instead of the “Asperges” during the sprinkling of the water over the people at Sunday High Mass during the Easter season. It might seem odd that this event takes place on this day, rather than any other, but there is a possible connection with another bit of Jewish tradition. Just as Christians keep remembrance of the date of a holy person’s death, most Jewish traditions assign the death of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, to the tenth day of Nisan, the day that we are considering here.⁵ Given the obvious parallel in the names Miriam and Mary (probably meaning something like “exalted lady”), the day that her Son is designated to die (liturgically speaking, as the mystical Lamb) is perhaps the day that she herself feels the pains of death in her heart. She must certainly have been aware that his death was approaching, since she understood the scriptures.

“And the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.” (Num 20:1) The name of the place “Kadesh” means “holy,” so Miriam was buried in a “holy place” exactly one year before the Israelites entered the promised land.⁶

According to certain traditions, this is when the “Well of Miriam,” i.e. the rock that traditionally followed the Israelites through the desert, giving them water along the way, dried up towards the end of the Exodus. (Num 20:1–2) Thus the second time Moses has to get water out of the rock likely happened this day or shortly thereafter.

“The rock was Christ,” according to St. Paul (1 Cor 10:4) but the Jews, the people of the old covenant, attributed it to Miriam. It is fascinating to consider that this much later rabbinic association with Miriam could be subtly pointing the Jews towards our Blessed Lady, and by that avenue, towards Christ.

And three good gifts were given from Heaven through their agency, and these are they: The well of water, the pillar of cloud, and the manna. He elaborates: The well was given to the Jewish people in the merit of Miriam; the pillar of cloud was in the merit of Aaron; and the manna in the merit of Moses. When Miriam died the well disappeared, as it is stated: “And Miriam died there” (Numbers 20:1), and it says thereafter in the next verse: “And there was no water for the congregation” (Numbers 20:2). But the well returned in the merit of both Moses and Aaron.⁷

Three good providers arose for Israel, and these are they: Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam. And three good gifts were given through them to Israel, and these are they: the well, and the pillar of cloud, and the Mannah. The Mannah was [given] by the merit of Moses, the pillar of cloud by the merit of Aaron, the well by the merit of Miriam. Miriam died, the well disappeared, it was given back to Israel by the merit of Moses and Aaron.⁸

There are all sorts of later traditions that sprang up about how the rock moved along with them, and how it gave water around the whole camp (traditions with which St. Paul was familiar, cf. Rom 10:4). Once again, we see the rock and the living water. St. Paul tells us very clearly that “the rock was Christ” but if it was earned by the merits of Miriam, we can see the connection with the Incarnation. We would not dare suggest that our Lady somehow merited the Incarnation strictly speaking, but the Church does engage in a bit of pious exaggeration in such liturgical antiphons as the Regina Caeli (“whom thou didst merit to bear”).

The matins reading assigned to Palm Sunday (10 Nisan), from the prophecy of Jeremiah, also seems to fit with this theme:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves,  broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jer 2:12–13)

They try to purify themselves, but to no avail. Without God we can most certainly do nothing. (Jn 15:5) The waters of life—referring to the Holy Spirit who is life—only issue only from the living temple, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are pleased to provide the following translation of an article in Claves, the newsletter of the French district of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. This article summarizes the arguments presented in a 40-page Theological study authored by members of the Fraternity under the direction of Fr. Josef Bisig, rector of Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary and a founding member of the FSSP. —ed.

Are the ordinations planned by the FSSPX legitimate?

Written by a group of theologians (Theologus), this article received strong praise from Cardinal Sarah:

“A huge thank you for this enlightening text. It will enlighten souls eager to live their Faith in the Truth, that is, in Christ and in His Church. Since 2001, I have been among those who assist the Supreme Pontiff in selecting candidates for the episcopate, following a long and meticulous investigation of each candidate. I am painfully surprised and shocked that a simple decision by a Community Superior would determine the ordination of ‘truly Catholic bishops.’ Thank you for this wonderful, clear, and well-researched text. We must realize that it is not we who save souls. It is Christ alone who saves. We are merely instruments in His Hands.

Let us continue to pray that the Body of Christ may not be torn apart again.”

Cardinal Robert Sarah

What is the fundamental argument of the SSPX in defense of the consecrations planned for July 1, 2026?

It is officially summarized in an Appendix to Father Pagliarani’s response to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dated February 18, 2026:

“An episcopal consecration not authorized by the Holy See, when it is not accompanied by a schismatic intention or by the conferral of jurisdiction, does not constitute a rupture of communion with the Church. The constitution Lumen gentium on the Church states in Chapter III, no. 21 [LG 21], that the power of jurisdiction is conferred by episcopal consecration. […]

The argument that would conclude that future episcopal consecrations within the Society would be schismatic rests entirely on the postulate of the Second Vatican Council that episcopal consecration confers both the power of order and that of jurisdiction.”

In what way is this argument open to criticism?

It contains two major errors: one regarding what the Council affirms; the other regarding the argumentation of those who oppose the future consecrations.

What does the Council actually say?

It does not affirm that episcopal consecration confers the power of jurisdiction.

“The holy Council teaches that, through episcopal consecration, the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred […]. Episcopal consecration, together with the office (or function: munus) of sanctification, also confers the offices of teaching and governing, which, however, by their very nature, can be exercised only in hierarchical communion with the head of the college and its members (LG 21).”

To fully understand the text of LG 21, it should be noted that an explanatory note (Nota explicativa prævia) was added to Lumen gentium in response to requests for clarification from the Council Fathers, including those from the group to which Archbishop Lefebvre belonged, the Cœtus internationalis Patrum.

What does the Note explaining LG 21 say?

“In the episcopal consecration, ontological participation in the sacred functions (munera) is conferred, as is clearly evident from Tradition and also from liturgical tradition. The term ‘functions’ (munera) is deliberately used rather than ‘power’ (potestas), because the latter could be understood as a power capable of being exercised in practice. But for such a power capable of being exercised to exist, a canonical or juridical determination on the part of the hierarchical authority must intervene. […] Such a subsequent norm is required by the nature of the matter, because these are functions that must be exercised by several subjects who, by the will of Christ, cooperate in a hierarchical manner. It is evident that this “communion” was applied in the life of the Church according to the circumstances of the times before being codified in law.

This is why it is expressly stated that hierarchical communion with the head and members of the Church is required. Communion is a concept held in high esteem in the early Church (as it still is today, particularly in the East). It is not understood as some vague sentiment, but as an organic reality, which requires a juridical form and is at the same time animated by charity. ” (Nota prævia, n. 2).

Is there here an erroneous innovation of Vatican II?

Contrary to what the FSSPX maintains, according to Vatican II, what is conferred by episcopal consecration is not the power to govern (jurisdiction), but offices or functions. The FSSPX therefore asserts—without proving it—a supposedly erroneous “postulate of Vatican II.”

Moreover, a well-known “traditionalist” theologian, Father Raymond Dulac, explains, on the contrary, that in the text of LG 21, there is no break with previous Catholic doctrine: “Consecration produces an innate, indelible vocation, inscribed in the ‘episcopal character,’ to govern a portion of the Church, but this capacity must be actualized through a true ‘power’ of jurisdiction.” And he speaks of “radical authority inscribed in consecration ” (Episcopal Collegiality at the Second Vatican Council, Le Cèdre, 1979, pp. 119–120).

Does the argument of those who oppose future consecrations rest entirely, as the SSPX claims, on this supposed “error” of Vatican II?

No, because even if the SSPX were correct in its criticism of Lumen gentium, those who oppose its reasoning do not base their position on this question of the transmission of the power of jurisdiction.

The argument of those who oppose the SSPX’s consecrations rests on the very nature of the Catholic episcopate, the essence of which includes hierarchical communion.

How might we clarify the arguments of those who oppose future consecrations?

As we have just noted, what is at issue in future consecrations is not whether or not the power of jurisdiction is received. It is the fact that all the functions received in consecration—including that of the sanctification of the baptized through the conferral of Confirmation and Holy Orders—“can be exercised only in hierarchical communion with the head of the college and its members”; and that this stems from “the very nature” of these episcopal functions.

Does this also apply to a bishop without jurisdiction, such as a titular bishop or a bishop emeritus?

Yes, a bishop who has not been entrusted with a flock to govern (titular bishop) or who has retired (bishop emeritus) does not confirm or ordain the faithful of other bishops in the Church without the permission of their own Ordinaries.

A titular bishop is indeed consecrated without being granted actual jurisdiction, but he nevertheless continues to exercise, within the order of sanctification, the “grace of leadership” received at his consecration (cf. St. Irenaeus, Adversus hæreses, III, 17, 2) in hierarchical communion with the Pope and the other bishops.

Whenever a bishop without actual jurisdiction exercises his episcopal sacramental power, he does so with a mission received from those who have jurisdiction (diocesan bishops or religious superiors).

Is a special mission received for the future bishops of the SSPX?

No, that is not what is envisaged for the consecrations of the SSPX:

“The present situation, which is one of a widespread and permanent invasion of modernism into the minds of men of the Church, demands, for the sanctification and salvation of souls, a truly Catholic episcopate free from the errors of the Second Vatican Council, such as cannot in fact be found outside the work initiated by Archbishop Lefebvre ” (Abbé Gleize, “The Consecrations of July 1, 2026,” La Porte Latine, February 11, 2026).

In the introduction to a book published in Italian, the SSPX asserts that it is necessary to have

“the consecration of fully Catholic bishops for the ordination of fully Catholic priests who will continue to transmit the Deposit of Faith without alteration” (Various Authors, Al servizio della Chiesa. Le consacrazioni episcopali della Fraternità San Pio X, Edizioni Piane, 2026).

It is therefore envisaged that the future bishops of the FSSPX will be consecrated not only without receiving any jurisdiction or mission but also outside the Catholic hierarchical communion, since only the FSSPX can, in its view, transmit the Deposit of Faith without alteration.

Is ordination outside of (and a fortiori against) hierarchical communion an intrinsically evil act?

Yes, because a priest who is ordained without receiving actual jurisdiction nevertheless always receives a spiritual power intrinsically ordered toward the governance of the Church. He cannot receive, outside of any mandate from those who hold authority in the Church (and a fortiori against them), a “grace of leadership,” that is, a power essentially ordered toward an act reserved, by divine right, to those in the Church who are vested with authority.

A consecration outside of hierarchical communion therefore entails a grave defect which is, if not schismatic, at least in the very line of schism. Pius XII thus describes consecration received without apostolic institution as a “very grave attack on the very unity of the Church,” and he describes the exercise of the power of order by bishops thus consecrated as “gravely illicit and sacrilegious” (Encyclical Ad apostolorum Principis, June 29, 1958).

Is conferring or receiving the episcopate outside of hierarchical communion contrary to divine law?

Yes, because Christ did not establish the apostles, nor did the apostles institute the bishops, their successors, as autonomous entities, unconnected to one another. Speaking of the determination required for hierarchical communion, the Nota Prævia clearly states: “Such a subsequent norm is required by the nature of the matter, because these are functions that must be exercised by several subjects who, by the will of Christ, cooperate in a hierarchical manner” (n. 2).

The conferral of the episcopate on priests of the FSSPX on July 1 would therefore take place autonomously and without any connection to the rest of the Catholic episcopate. It would contradict what Fr. Berto, theologian (peritus) to Archbishop Lefebvre during the Second Vatican Council, recalled: “By divine right, the bishops, even when scattered, are a constituted body within the Church” (Pour la Sainte Église Romaine, Éd. du Cèdre, 1976, p. 242).

And Pius XII emphasizes that the three offices of the bishops (including that of the order) belong to them in subordination to the Supreme Pontiff: “By divine institution, it belongs to you, the successors of the Apostles, under the authority of the Roman Pontiff, by virtue of a threefold office and prerogative (cf. can. 329): the magisterium, the priesthood, and governance (magisterium, sacerdotium, regimen) ” (May 31, 1954, Address to the Cardinals and Bishops who had come to Rome for the canonization of St. Pius X)

Are such consecrations, as their defenders claim, free from “schismatic intent”?

Subjectively, it is possible. The grave and prolonged crisis in the Church, particularly the fact that certain members of the hierarchy may at times actually promote error or be complicit with those who spread error, can lead some, in good faith, to lose sight of essential elements of Catholic doctrine, such as hierarchical communion. And subjective intention is a matter for God’s judgment.

But objectively, the Lefebvrist episcopate can only be constituted by denying the other bishops the status of Catholics: the SSPX acknowledges this when it asserts that a “truly Catholic episcopate” must be established for “the salvation of souls.”

As Bishop Marian Eleganti noted, “it is not primarily a matter of intentions, but of objective facts and behaviors” (thecatholicherald.com, March 9, 2026). And Bishop Robert Mutsaerts wrote: “The SSPX has a parallel hierarchy (of bishops without a papal mandate), it performs ordinations without jurisdiction, and often ignores local bishops” (lifesitenews.com, March 12, 2026).

Is the concept of the episcopate, as presented by the FSSPX, orthodox?

Unfortunately, the FSSPX is increasingly and clearly developing a concept of the episcopate that is manifestly contrary to Catholic Tradition. It claims, in fact, to ordain bishops who have no connection to the actual governance of the Church and who are not “true princes in the ecclesiastical hierarchy” (Leo XIII, encyclical Sapientiæ christianæ, January 10, 1890).

In contrast, the Catholic concept of the episcopate is clearly affirmed by St. Thomas: “The bishop has a rank in relation to the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, over which he receives a principal and quasi-royal charge” (Treatise on the Perfection of the Spiritual Life, chap. 24, 4).

Tradition is also expressed, in particular, in the liturgical rites and practices of the Church, both Eastern and Western. It shows that, through the rites of episcopal consecration, bishops not only receive a specific power of order but also take the place of Christ as Teacher and Shepherd. Thus, the traditional Roman Pontifical states, for all bishops, even those who do not have charge of a particular flock: “Grant him, O Lord, an episcopal see to govern Your Church and the people entrusted to him.” And Benedict XIV invokes another text from the Pontifical: “Receive the Gospel, and go and proclaim it to the people entrusted to you” (Apostolic Letter to Cardinal delle Lanze, August 4, 1747).

The SSPX, on the contrary, promotes an episcopate reduced to the exercise of the power of order (ordaining priests and confirming the faithful). This contradicts the Council of Trent, which teaches on two occasions that “preaching is the principal duty (præcipuum munus) of bishops” (Session 5, Decretum de reformatione, c. 2, and Session 24, Decretum de reformatione, c. 4; Mansi, 33, 30, and 159).

Is there a danger of drifting toward heterodoxy?

Yes. For the SSPX, the bishop is appointed by the superiors of a particular society of apostolic life: the SSPX. Such a bishop is therefore no longer instituted in union with the pope and the other bishops; he is no longer a member of a body.

Therein lies a heresy, at least in practice: “The most elementary Catholic doctrine,” teaches Pius IX, “teaches us that no one can be considered a legitimate bishop:

• unless he is bound by the communion of faith and charity to the rock upon which the Church of Christ was built,
• unless he adheres to the supreme shepherd to whom all the sheep of Christ have been entrusted to lead them to pasture,
• unless he is bound to the one who confirms his brothers who are in this world
  (Apostolic Letter Etsi multa luctuosa, November 21, 1873).

On the other hand, the concept of the episcopate as formulated by the SSPX is allegedly reduced to the function of bishops administering the sacraments at the behest of the SSPX’s superiors.

Such bishops claim to have no jurisdiction, yet they nevertheless assume jurisdiction over subjects who are not under their authority in order to confirm and ordain them. One sign of the insincerity of this claim of lack of jurisdiction is precisely the use in the FSSPX’s pontifical ceremonies of numerous symbols of the powers of teaching and governance: the miter, the crosier, the throne, etc. Whereas such liturgical symbols are absolutely not required for the validity of the exercise of episcopal power of order.

The conception of an episcopate reduced to the power of order thus practically contradicts the revealed affirmation that bishops are “appointed by the Holy Spirit to govern (shepherd, poimainein) the Church of God” (Acts 20:28).

On May 28th, 2026, twelve Our Lady of Guadalupe seminarians were ordained to the sacred priesthood by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami. The ceremony was held at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska. May God bless the ordinati!

by Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG

On 26 February 1901, the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved a blessing of lilies (benedictio liliorum) in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, to be used on his feast day (13 June).  The lily has long been associated with this Saint.  Indeed, “in the earliest pictures [of St. Anthony] we find nothing more distinctive than a book, emblematic of his knowledge of Holy Scripture, or a lily,”¹ which “signifies his love for purity.”²  The translation of the blessing, found in the Roman Ritual, is as follows:³

The priest vests in surplice and white stole, and says:

℣. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with your spirit.

Let us pray.

God, the Creator and preserver of the human race, the lover of holy purity, the giver of supernatural grace, and the dispenser of everlasting salvation; bless ✠ these lilies which we, Thine humble servants, present to Thee today as an act of thanksgiving and in honor of St. Anthony, Thy confessor, and with a request for Thy blessing.  Pour out on them, by the saving sign ✠ of the holy cross, Thy dew from on high.  Thou in Thy great kindness have given them to man, and endowed them with a sweet fragrance to lighten the burden of the sick.  Therefore, let them be filled with such power that, whether they are used by the sick, or kept in homes or other places, or devoutly carried on one’s person, they may serve to drive out evil spirits, safeguard holy chastity, and turn away illness – all this through the prayers of St. Anthony – and finally impart to Thy servants grace and peace; through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.

Then he sprinkles the lilies with holy water, saying:

Sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be clean of sin. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

℣. Pray for us, St. Anthony.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
We beg Thee, O Lord, that Thy people may be helped by the constant and devout intercession of Blessed Anthony, Thy illustrious confessor.  May he assist us to be worthy of Thy grace in this life, and to attain everlasting joys in the life to come; through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.

After this the lilies are distributed to the people.

As might be expected, the main blessing fittingly contains two references to purity, one at the beginning (“holy purity”) and one at the end (“holy chastity”), which is symbolized by the lily.  A point of interest is that the blessing begins by offering the lilies to God, something rare in such blessings.  In addition to the references to purity, a central intention of this main prayer is the prevention of and restoration from illness by the power of the sacramentalized flowers.  This intention regarding the prevention of and restoration from illness may be inspired by an event which occurred when the Saint was interred – “St. Anthony was buried on the Tuesday following his death, in the Church called Santa Maria Maggiore, in Padua.  On that very day, all the sick who had themselves taken to his grave, recovered.”⁴  This event also provides the foundation for holding devotions to St. Anthony on Tuesdays.  The concluding prayer is concerned with receiving supernatural benefits through the intercession of the Saint.

Another unique feature of this blessing is that the concluding rubric directs that they should be distributed to the faithful.  This rubric, then, envisions this ceremony as something done publicly, with a group of the faithful, and with the flowers grouped together for the blessing, rather than something more singular or with the faithful holding the flowers as they are blessed.  The use of the Asperges text (“Sprinkle me…”) while sprinkling the lilies with holy water is also something rare among the blessings of the Ritual, but is used in the three major blessings during the course of the liturgical year, that of the Candles on Candlemas, of the Ashes on Ash Wednesday, and of the Palms on Palm Sunday.  This, again, indicates that this blessing of lilies is foreseen as something major, especially as this ceremony is restricted to one day of the year.  What great honor is thus given to the lily, which is, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, “the most beautiful flower.”⁵

Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG was ordained in the fall of 2019 and was invested as an Ecclesiastical Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George in the summer of 2025.  He currently resides at the FSSP Canonical House of St. Casimir in Nashua, NH, and ministers at St. Stanislaus parish.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

1. Butler, Alban. The Lives of the Saints, vol. 6 (June). Edited and expanded by Thurston, Herbert and Leeson, Norah. (New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1937), p. 166.
2. Deymann, Clementinus. Devotion to St. Anthony of Padua; or, A novena in His Honor, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: A. Waldteufel, 1888), p. 11.
3. Rituale Romanum [1957], Titulus IX – Caput 10, 5; English adapted from the Weller translation provided online by EWTN (2, XI, VII, 23).
4. Deymann, 12.
5. “est pulcherrimus flos“-St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on Isaias 35:1 (745).

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.  There is also an index available here for the rest of the articles which includes a calendar with links.)

We left Moses on the mountain in the previous article, but we have not exhausted the topic.

However long it took for the octave of Pentecost to take final shape, the Ember days after Pentecost are very old, possibly going back as far as the early third century.¹ The Sunday that follows them is now celebrated as Trinity Sunday, but there is an even more ancient Sunday buried underneath that feast, which would be celebrated during the week in green vestments if a ferial Mass were being celebrated.

In terms of how this fits with the Exodus and the lunar calendar, the Ember Saturday after Pentecost would be the last day that Moses spends on the mountain before entering the cloud. (13 Sivan)

So Moses rose with his servant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.  And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a cause, let him go to them.” Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the sons of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Ex 24:13–18)

It is always interesting to see Joshua son of Nun mentioned, since the name in Hebrew is identical to “Jesus.” Joshua is here called the servant of Moses. In the old covenant, the law of Moses is imposed upon the Israelites, and the law of charity existed in a subordinate role until the fullness of time arrived. In the new covenant, the law of Jesus Christ reigns supreme in the hearts of men of good will, and this due to the love of God (and our fellow man) which “has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5) This passage just quoted is used in the introit for the Ember Saturday Mass, which we should regard as the final day of the seven days of Pentecost, just as the seven days of Easter begin after sunset (Vespers) of Holy Saturday and continue until Vespers of the following Saturday.

At this point it is worth noting that the feast of Pentecost as later instituted by Moses was an observance of a single day. However, since according to the more literal determination of its date, it would always fall on a Sunday, that would mean that there would always be two consecutive days of Sabbath rest for Pentecost, since the Saturday and the Sunday would always be concurrent. Regardless, it was certainly not a week-long celebration like Passover or Sukkot.

This is significant because of a very early tradition:  “Therefore, after you have kept the festival of Pentecost, keep one week more festival, and after that fast; for it is reasonable to rejoice for the gift of God, and to fast after that relaxation: for both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days, and Daniel for ‘three weeks of days did not eat desirable bread, and flesh and wine did not enter into his mouth.’ (Dan 10:3)”  ²

While this might seem to imply that there were no Ember Days at first, this merely reflects a primitive conflict between two different traditions, which eventually resolved by having liturgical rejoicing³ in the Mass and office of these Ember Days combined with fasting and penance for the rest of the day. This continued to be the practice until the observance of the Ember Days, one of the crown jewels of Roman liturgical distinctiveness, was eliminated in the 20th century. In recent years, a resurgence of interest in the Ember days (as well as the constant need for penance) has led a few diocesan bishops to restore them as days of penance for their subjects. Perhaps we can pray for their eventual full restoration for the entire Roman church.

The Ember Days that we are concerned with here, as was alluded to above, are an overlap of feast and fast and this phenomenon is unique to Pentecost week. This would have been the week during which Moses was on the mountain, but had not yet been called into the cloud. (see above Ex 24:15–16)

The day that he went into the cloud would be 14 Sivan, corresponding to our first Sunday after Pentecost. As previously noted, this Mass is rarely celebrated since it was replaced by the feast of the Holy Trinity, but it remains in the missal, in the background, as it were. The texts of the Mass act as a sort of “octave day” celebration of Pentecost, similar to the octave of Easter (Quasimodo/Low Sunday). For example, the epistle simply begins:

God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Before continuing, it is worth observing that “Love” is also one of the proper names of the Holy Spirit,⁴ once again making this a highly appropriate passage of scripture on this “octave day” of Pentecost.

Before Moses went into the cloud, presumably it was acting like most clouds and was preventing him from seeing inside it. He might have been afraid, but his love for God and his people allowed him to conquer his fear. The epistle concludes:

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. (1 Jn 4:8–21)

The gospel reading assigned for this Sunday is likewise appropriate instruction in the Christian life that every adult Christian who has received the Holy Spirit should be aware of:

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” (Lk 6:36–42)

Our Lord reminds us that perfection consists in being like the Divine Teacher, with all the sacrifices that entails. We are told to be merciful, since it is only by being merciful that we can be truly prudent, with our sights set on the next life, when we will be forgiven to the extent that we have forgiven others and shown them mercy, as almighty God continuously shows us mercy during our lives.⁵

The communion antiphon and postcommunion prayer complete the framework of the Christian life. First the communion antiphon: “I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” (Ps. 9:1–2) The postcommunion prayer reflects the same sentiment: “Filled with such great gifts, O Lord, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may both receive these saving benefits and never cease from Thy praise.”

We can and should praise God “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19) but the greatest praise that we can offer to almighty God is opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit and maintaining a clean heart, ready to receive his inspiration and to do his will. The collect of the Mass summarizes all these things: “O God, the strength of all them that put their trust in Thee, mercifully hear our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do nothing without Thee,⁶ grant us the help of Thy grace, that in keeping Thy commandments we may please Thee both in will and in deed.”

The church now enters into the long period of time after Pentecost, the longest season of the liturgical year. Moses went into the cloud, was surrounded by it, breathed it in and out, and came out after 33 days. We are meant to go into the cloud of the Holy Spirit and remain within it until we come to our eternal home.

by Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG

As readers of the Missive may recall, previous articles discussed the Autumn and Winter Ember Fasts, those of the Seventh Month/September and of the Tenth Month/December/Advent respectively.  In these articles, it was related that, the keeping of the Ember Days (Latin Quatuor Tempora, “four times”) is one of the most ancient practices of Christianity as practiced in the city of Rome.  According to the old Catholic Encyclopedia, “the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older.  Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution.”¹

For those who may be unfamiliar, the Ember Days are four sets of three days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) somewhat evenly spaced throughout the year which are kept as days of penance.  With respect to their origin, the Ember Days seem to be a christianization of Roman agricultural celebrations with the December Ember Days, falling yearly in the Third Week of Advent, being the christianization of the feriæ sementivæ (“for the seeding”), the Summer Ember Days, falling yearly during the Octave of Pentecost, of the feriæ messis (“for a bountiful harvest”), and the Autumn Ember Days, falling yearly in the third liturgical week of September, of the feriæ vindimiales (“for a rich vintage”).²  The Spring Ember Days, falling yearly in the week following the First Sunday of Lent, which seem to be without an agricultural precedent, were added, presumably, to balance out the year.  The Autumn and Winter Ember Days are also called, as was noted, the Fast of the Seventh Month and Fast of the Tenth Month, respectively.  Lest there be any confusion regarding calling the September Ember Days the Fast of the Seventh, and not the Ninth, Month and the December Ember Days the Fast of the Tenth, and not the Twelfth, Month, it is important to note that the Roman calendar, prior to the reform under Julius Caesar (d. 44 B.C.), originally marked the beginning of the year in the spring with March being the first month,³ thus making September the seventh and December the tenth, hence their names (septem, “seven”; decem, “ten”).⁴  So while September and December were not the seventh and tenth calendar months at the dawn of Roman Christianity, they were still the seventh and tenth months by name.

As was stated, the Ember Days were historically and traditionally kept as days of penance, particularly as days of fasting and abstinence.  In the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the Ember Days were to be kept as days of fasting and abstinence, with no exception for those which corresponded with the Octave of Pentecost (the Ember Days, it should be noted, predate this Octave) (canon 1252.2).  By 1962, the abstinence on Ember Wednesdays and Saturdays was reduced to partial.  These sets of days are observed, as they correspond, some better than others, with the changes of natural seasons, as a way to give thanks to God for the blessings of the previous season and to ask His blessing on the one beginning.  As ordinations at Rome historically occurred on Ember Saturdays, these days were also days of preparation for this event.  Uniquely, the Ember Days of Pentecost also served as the reintroduction of the practice of keeping days of fasting, which practice had, according to ancient observance, been suspended since the Feast of the Resurrection.⁵

Some authors, such as Servant of God Dom Prosper Guéranger,⁶ attempt to justify the keeping of the Ember Day fasts by invoking the Prophet Zacharias (8:19): “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.”  The Fasts of the Seventh Month and of the Tenth Month mentioned by the Prophet, then, would correspond with the September and December Ember Days.  The Fast of the Fourth Month would correspond with the Ember Days following the Feast of Pentecost which can fall between 20 May (the third month) and 13 June (the fourth month).  Indeed, “for a time in the Carolingian period, Gallican canonists placed the [Ember] fasts in the first week of the first month [those of March], the second week of the fourth month [of June], the third week of the seventh month [of September], and the fourth week of the tenth month [of December].”⁷  If one were to assign a correspondence in the Roman liturgical calendar for the Fast of the Fifth Month, the fasts before the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and before the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, both celebrated in late June, close to July, the original fifth Roman month, serve as possible candidates.  It is not by coincidence, then, such authors would argue, that this passage of the Prophet is read as part of the Fourth Lesson on September’s Ember Saturday (Zach 8:14-19).  Rather, it is the Church’s liturgy itself giving witness to the origin of these fasts.

It is clear, however, that there is not a perfect correspondence between the passage from Zacharias and the Roman liturgical calendar.  This is most likely due to the Prophet being invoked as a justification for a practice which was already being kept rather than the passage serving as the inspiration of the practice.  As was said above, the origin of the Ember Days is more likely a christianization of Roman agricultural celebrations at a very early date rather than the application of the writings of an Old Testament Prophet to the Christian liturgical year, although the Scripture text may have inspired the names of these christianized observances.  Dom Guéranger himself notes that “in the early writers” there is mention “of the three times [of fasting] and not the four,”⁸ but argues this is because the Ember Days of Lent add nothing to the Lenten fast already being observed.  Again, it seems more likely that the Spring Ember Days were added later, but by the time of Pope Gelasius (A.D. 492-496), to balance out the calendar.

As was explained above, the Summer/Pentecost Ember Days seem to be a christianization of Roman agricultural celebrations of the feriæ messis (“for a bountiful harvest”).  This is, perhaps, reflected in the choice of the Epistle for the Ember Friday of Pentecost (Joel 2:23-24; 26-27) as well as the Second (Lev 23:9-11; 15-17, 21), Third, (Deu 26:1-3; 7-11), and Fourth (Deu 26:1-3; 7-11) Lessons for the Ember Saturday of Pentecost which all refer to harvests and other agricultural work.  The Second and Third Lessons of Ember Saturday are doing double-duty in that, not only do they treat of agricultural work and harvests which can be seen as associated with the summer Roman harvest celebration, they relate specifically to the offering of the first fruits of the barley harvest associated with the Israelite Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (see Lev 23:9-14) and the offering of the first fruits of the wheat harvest associated with the Israelite Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks (see Exo 23:16), elevations into Israelite worship of post-fall agricultural festivals.  The Israelite Passover was, of course, elevated into the Christian Pasch (Easter), and the Israelite Pentecost into the Christian Pentecost, so it is fitting that the account from Leviticus in the Second Lesson, recounting the institution of the Israelite Pentecost, is read during the Christian Pentecost Octave.⁹

As was also related in the previously mentioned articles, on Sundays related to the Autumn and Winter Ember Days, prior to the changes made to the Breviary under Pope John XXIII (d. A.D. 1963),¹⁰ the readings for the second nocturns in the Office of Matins related to the ancient Ember fasts.  Knowing this, it would be expected that something similar would occur on the Sundays associated with the Summer Ember Fasts.  But, unfortunately, this is not the case.  Traditionally, mirroring Easter and its Octave, Matins during Pentecost and its Octave only has one nocturn daily with its three lessons being of the patristic commentary on the Gospel of the day.  As such, there is no room on Pentecost or during its Octave in Matins for a patristic sermon on the Summer Ember Fast.  It is worth noting at this point that, in the whole liturgical year, only these two great feasts and their octaves have Matins with just three psalms and three lessons consisting of patristic commentary on the Gospel of the day.

The lack of a patristic sermon on the Summer Ember Fast in the Divine Office, of course, does not mean such sermons do not exist.  Therefore, to assist our readers to enter into the spirit of these Pentecost Ember Days, here is provided the First Sermon on the Whitsuntide Fast of Pope St. Leo the Great whose sermons on the Fasts of the Seventh and Tenth Months are read at their appropriate times by the Church in the Divine Office:

Today’s festival, dearly-beloved, hallowed by the descent of the Holy Ghost, is followed, as you know by a solemn fast, which being a salutary institution for the healing of soul and body, we must keep with devout observance.  For when the Apostles had been filled with the promised power, and the Spirit of Truth had entered their hearts, we doubt not that among the other mysteries of heavenly doctrine this discipline of spiritual self-restraint was first thought of at the prompting of the Paraclete in order that minds sanctified by fasting might be fitter for the chrism to be bestowed on them.  The disciples of Christ had the protection of the Almighty aid, and the chiefs of the infant Church were guarded by the whole Godhead of the Father and the Son through the presence of the Holy Ghost.  But against the threatened attacks of persecutors, against the terrifying shouts of the ungodly, they could not fight with bodily strength or pampered flesh, since that which delights the outer does most harm to the inner man, and the more one’s fleshly substance is kept in subjection, the more purified is the reasoning soul.

And so those teachers, who have instructed all the Church’s sons by their examples and their traditions, began the rudiments of the Christian warfare with holy fasts, that, having to fight against spiritual wickednesses, they might take the armour of abstinence, wherewith to slay the incentives to vice.  For invisible foes and incorporeal enemies will have no strength against us, if we be not entangled in any lusts of the flesh.  The desire to hurt us is indeed ever active in the tempter, but he will be disarmed and powerless, if he find no vantage ground within us from which to attack us.  But who, encompassed with this frail flesh, and placed in this body of death, even one who has made much decided progress, can be so sure of his safety now, as to believe himself free from the peril of all allurements?  Although Divine Grace gives daily victory to His saints, yet He does not remove the occasion for fighting, because this very fact is part of our Protector’s Mercy, Who has always designed that something should remain for our ever-changing nature to win, lest it should boast itself on the ending of the battle.

Therefore, after the days of holy gladness, which we have devoted to the honour of the Lord rising from the dead and then ascending into heaven, and after receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, a fast is ordained as a wholesome and needful practice, so that, if perchance through neglect or disorder even amid the joys of the festival any undue licence has broken out, it may be corrected by the remedy of strict abstinence, which must be the more scrupulously carried out in order that what was on this day Divinely bestowed on the Church may abide in us.  For being made the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and watered with a greater supply than ever of the Divine Stream, we ought not to be conquered by any lusts nor held in possession by any vices in order that the habitation of Divine power may be stained with no pollution.

And this assuredly it is possible for all to obtain, God helping and guiding us, if by the purification of fasting and by merciful liberality, we take pains to be set free from the filth of sins, and to be rich in the fruits of love.  For whatever is spent in feeding the poor, in healing the sick, in ransoming prisoners, or in any other deeds of piety, is not lessened but increased, nor will that ever be lost in the sight of God which the loving-kindness of the faithful has expended, seeing that whatever a man gives in relief, he lays up for his own reward.  For blessed are the merciful, since God shall have mercy on them (Matthew 5:7); nor will shortcomings be remembered, where the presence of true religion has been attested.  On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast, and on Saturday let us keep vigil in the presence of the most blessed Apostle, Peter, by whose prayers we surely trust to be set free both from spiritual foes and bodily enemies; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.¹¹

Rev. Cav. William Rock, FSSP, SMOCSG was ordained in the fall of 2019 and was invested as an Ecclesiastical Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George in the summer of 2025.  He currently resides at the FSSP Canonical House of St. Casimir in Nashua, NH, and ministers at St. Stanislaus parish.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

1. The old Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Ember Days.”
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., s.v. “New Year’s Day.”
4. Whitaker’s Words, s.vv. “Septem” and “Decem.”
5. Talley, T. J. The Origins of the Liturgical Year.  (New York: Pueblo Books, 1986), pp. 66-67, 68-69, 147-148.  See also: New Liturgical Movement: Fifty Days of Easter?  As witnessed to by the 1917 Code of Canon Law, canon 1252.2, and, more importantly, by “the Sacramentary of St. Leo I” (no later than ~A.D. 540), the Vigil of Pentecost began to kept at some point as a day of fasting and abstinence, a slight deviation from the practice of no days of fast during the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, but one made somewhat early on.  This deviation in the observance of the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost arguably arose from the keeping of the Vigil of Pentecost, like the Vigil of Easter, in the Roman tradition, as a time for the solemn celebration of Baptism and also the ancient discipline which directed that those who were to receive Baptism and those baptizing should do so fasting (e.g.: The Didache [first-second century A.D.]: “But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.” [7, 4]).  By 1962, the Vigil of Pentecost was kept as a day of fasting and partial abstinence.
6. Guéranger, Prosper. The Liturgical Year, vol. 1 (Advent). Trans. Shepherd, Laurence. (Fitzwilliam: Loreto Publications, 2000), pp. 218-221.
7. Talley, p. 148.  See also: New Liturgical Movement: The Feast and Fast of Pentecost.
8. Guéranger, p. 219.
9. More information about the Mass readings of Ember Saturday during the Octave of Pentecost, see New Liturgical Movement: The Ancient Character of Pentecost in the Roman Rite (Part 2).
10. In the changes made by Pope John XXIII in 1960, Sunday Matins was reduced to one nocturn and the readings of the second nocturns omitted.  With respect to the matter at hand, it seems to be a great loss that the Autumn and Winter Ember Day, which testify to their antiquity, are no longer part of the Church’s official liturgy.
11. Translated by Charles Lett Feltoe. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360378.htm>.  Pope Leo also makes reference to the keeping of the Pentecost Ember Days in his first On Whitsuntide sermon at the conclusion: “On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast, and on Saturday let us keep vigil in the presence of the most blessed Apostle, Peter, by whose prayers we surely trust to be set free both from spiritual foes and bodily enemies; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.  There is also an index available here for the rest of the articles which includes a calendar with links.)

Although a great deal has been written by others about the feast of Pentecost and how it ties in to ancient Israelite worship, I wish to make a few observations as regards how it fits in with our (if you are still reading these, it’s not just mine any more) lunar calendar schema. Even though I wrote about the second year of the Exodus in the last article, we have not yet had a chance to look at the Pentecost of the first year of the Exodus (before it was even instituted as one of the chief feasts of the Israelites).

First of all, we need to look at the exact day the feast of Pentecost falls on. This is determined based on a reading of the book of Leviticus:

 

“And you shall count from the day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven full weeks shall they be, counting fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord.  You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, as first fruits to the Lord. And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their cereal offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord. And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.  And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.  And you shall make proclamation on the same day; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (Lev 23:15–21)

This might seem fairly straightforward, but a there is a dispute regarding precisely when the counting of the fifty days should begin. When that count begins will, of course, determine the date of Pentecost. There are two schools of thought in this regard. The one that is a product of later rabbinic (post-second-temple) Judaism, and the one that is held to today (outside of the fundamentalist sect called the Karaites) begins counting the days to Pentecost immediately after the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, which the rabbis regard as the “sabbath” spoken of in the text quoted above. Thus in present day Judaism, Pentecost or “Shavuot”¹ always falls on the 6th day of Sivan, no matter what day of the week that might be.

The other school of thought was followed by the Sadducees, who were in power around the time of Christ until the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD. This tradition is only retained today by the aforementioned Karaites. It is possible this represents the more primitive tradition. It is important to keep in mind that until the destruction of the second temple, the end of the “grace period” for the Jews to receive Christ, the high priests at that time were Sadducees. This priestly line was preserved by the grace of almighty God from the time of Moses and Aaron, and even enjoyed certain special divine privileges (cf. Jn 11:51, when the high priest prophesies). By this literal—and likely original—reading of the text, the counting of the days to Pentecost began after the Sabbath (Saturday) within the week of Passover. If the feast began on Friday, 15 Nisan, then, the count would begin on Saturday evening (after sunset) and end on the Sunday seven weeks thence. One can see that if the counting of the days until Pentecost is done in this manner, Pentecost itself would always fall on a Sunday, the first day of the week, as it always does in Christian worship, and so there is a certain fittingness to this.

The events that took place before, during, and after the first Pentecost (which did not yet exist as a formal observance) are recorded in Exodus, chapter 19:

On the third new moon after the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  And when they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever.”

Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready by the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Take heed that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death; no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, “Be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman.”

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.  And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze and many of them perish. And also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out upon them.” And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself charged us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and consecrate it.’ ”  And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them. (Ex 19:1–25)

After this, God reveals the Ten Commandments and other basic observances of the law. Many of the other minute observances would not be given until after the incident with the golden calf.  Additionally, we have here a parallel, frequently commented upon, between the public establishment of the people of God at Sinai and the public establishment of the new people of God on the first Pentecost after the resurrection.

Although a much later development in the liturgy, we can at least see a biblical justification for an octave of the feast of Pentecost (at least in the Christian calendar), for after receiving the law:

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the sons of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Ex 24:15–18)

It is unfortunate to end on a low note, but we recall what happened at the end of those forty days, on the 17th day of Tammuz. (see here)

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.  There is also an index of all articles that includes a calendar with links for convenience.

In this part of the lunar calendar, we continue to accompany the Israelites on their Exodus out of Egypt.  The correspondences with the Roman liturgy continue.  We have already to seen some of what happened in the second month after the Exodus in one of the first articles on this topic. By way of brief reminder: on what corresponds to the fourth Sunday after Easter in the Roman liturgical calendar, the people begin to receive manna from heaven, which they would continue to receive for the entire time of their wandering in the desert. We have seen (above) that this date, no matter what else might have been going on, was a Sunday, specifically the 16th day of the second month, called Iyar.1  They continued to journey after this, with the manna sustaining them.  According to an old tradition, they make it a whole week before complaining again.2 On the 23rd day of Iyar (also a Sunday in this arrangement) we read:

All the congregation of the sons of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”  So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the fault-finding of the sons of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex 17:1-7)

Now, the fact of the human body’s need for water on a fairly regular basis in order to avert death allows us to establish that the Israelites’ request for water in the desert was not nearly so frivolous as e.g. the desire for the fleshpots of Egypt because one tires of the food that one has (we will see this later on). God knows that the people are thirsty, and He will provide water in due time. God mildly rebukes the Israelites, but does not afflict them for their reasonable petition. Their fault did not consist in asking, but in asking wrongly, i.e. without faith. Even Moses appears to be at the end of his rope, perhaps fearing the mob (and death) when he expresses his fear of being stoned, as though God could not rescue him from every harm.3 If we despair of obtaining some earthly good that we need very much, that is not a sin against hope, but it might be a sin against faith if we do not believe that God will provide for us in our need (and our greatest need is to be with Him in heaven).

We can contrast this with what happens exactly one (lunar) year later. Keep in mind what has happened in the intervening time. The Israelites continued on to Mt. Sinai, where they remained until the following year “in the presence of God,” as it were. Their time there was not without incident.

Less than seven weeks after arriving at the holy mountain, the Israelites committed the sin of idolatry with the golden calf and the covenant was broken. In witness of this, Moses smashed the tablets of the law in the sight of the people. Moses then had to remake the covenant between God and the Israelites, making a new pair of tablets. This took place traditionally on 10 Tishri, the Day of Atonement, after Moses had spent another 40 days on the mountain in the presence of God. After his return with the new tablets, the tabernacle and the ark could be constructed, and these were assembled on the first day of Nisan in the second year of the Exodus. The Israelites remained there a bit longer, then:

In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the covenant, and the sons of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses. (Num 10:11–13)

So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.  And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered; and let them who hate you flee before you.” And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” (Num 10:33–36)

Three days’ journey would bring them to the afternoon of 22 Iyar:

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again, and said, “O that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Num 11:4–6)

As was observed above when we were looking at the first 23 Iyar, it was perfectly reasonable for the Israelites to desire water, a basic necessity of life. This “craving” the people have now is holding the gifts that God is already providing (manna) in contempt, the exact opposite of gratitude.

Moses then spoke to the Lord and He told him:

And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.  You shall not eat one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,  but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come forth out of Egypt?” ’ ” But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to satisfy them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?” And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Num 11:18–23) And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose all that day, and all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails; he who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.  While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. (Num 11:31–33)

A “homer” in this context is about 9 gallons of volume, so imagine two big barrels almost filled with quail per person.  This would be more than anyone could eat or even process before the meat spoils, and that spoilage might have been the very cause (on the natural level) of the plague that they suffered. This story is meant to remind us that God will provide for us, as He did for them (with the manna) but if we put Him to the test He will “reward” us with more than we can possibly handle, and this might overwhelm us. We must remember that it is important to be content with the blessings that God has given to us, and not to wish for more than we have been given, unless it is God’s will. The manna came to them for the first time on a Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Now that they despise the manna, they are stuffed with quail and punished with a plague. If we imagine that the Exodus began on a Friday, then after a (lunar) year, this second round of quail would come on Thursday, 23 Iyar. They gather “all day, all night, and all the next day” (Friday) and then they are struck with a plague. Is it a coincidence that eating meat on Friday leads to a plague? This time, most likely.

This leads to the connection to be made with the Roman liturgy. The twenty-third day of Iyar in our artificial calendar corresponds to the fifth Sunday after Easter. This Sunday serves as an introduction to the lesser Rogation Days, which occur on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading up to Ascension Thursday. The lesser (or minor) Rogation days were originally a local custom and were introduced by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, some time in the fifth century. They did not appear in Rome until the time of Leo III (795-816).4  Nevertheless, the fifth Sunday after Easter, at least as it appears in the Roman missal, serves as a very appropriate introduction to them and may have influenced their placement. What would not have influenced their placement, but is certainly interesting in the context of this long study of seemingly random coincidences, is that they were originally instituted in response to a local plague.

In the gospel for the 5th Sunday after Easter, our Lord says, “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto, you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.” (Jn 16:23–24)

We are meant to understand by this, and from the two stories from the book of Exodus that we can tie into this, that all our prayers of petition must be made well, in a spirit of thanksgiving, whether the petition is granted or not. It would be preferable also, as we saw from the story of the quail, if our petition is not tied a spirit of ingratitude, as though what we have is somehow not sufficient for us at that exact moment. If our hearts are conformed to the heart of Jesus, then we will always ask the Father in the name of His Son, just as he asked the Father in the garden of Gethsemani, “Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” (Lk 22:42) All of our prayers made in such a spirit are answered. Often the answer is “no,” but it comes with knowing God’s will in a particular case. It is worth reiterating that every prayer of petition made in this spirit will result in God’s will being done, and we the petitioners gain merit from it, no matter what the result, and so thanksgiving (at least in our minds) must come before and after every prayer of petition, or it is scarcely prayer at all.