[Catholic Caucus] The Octave of the Immaculate Conception (Gueranger)

http://www.clutchingmyrosary.com/blog/?p=9305 ^ | 1868 | Dom Prosper Gueranger

[CMRosary]

White

Greater Double

THIS, THE EIGHTH DAY from that on which we kept the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is the Octave properly so called; whereas the other days were simply called days within the Octave. The custom of keeping up the principal Feasts for a whole week is one of those which the Christian Church adopted from the Synagogue. God had thus spoken in the Book of Leviticus: "The first day shall be called most solemn and most holy: you shall do no servile work therein … The eighth day also shall be most solemn and most holy, and you shall offer holocausts to the Lord, for it is the day of assembly and congregation: you shall do no servile work therein." We also read in the Book of Kings that Solomon, having called all Israel to Jerusalem for the dedication of the Temple, suffered not the temple to return home until the eighth day.

We learn from the Books of the New Testament that this customer was observed in our Savior’s time, and we find him authorizing, by his own example, this solemnity of the Octave. Thus, we read in Saint John that Jesus once took part in one of the Jewish Festivals about the midst of the Feast; and the same Evangelist relating how our Lord cried out to the people: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink: observes that it was on the last and great day of the festivity.

In the Christian Church, there are two kinds of Octaves: Privileged Octaves and Non-privileged Octaves. The first are so solemn that no feast of a Saint, occurring during them, can be kept, but must be transferred to some other time out of the Octave. Neither, during these Octaves, can a Mass De Requiem be said unless the corpse be present for burial. Non-privileged Octaves admit the Feasts of Saints, which occur during them, provided they are semi-doubles or of higher class; but a commemoration of the Octave must be made both in the Office and the Mass of the Feast, which thus takes precedence of the Octave, unless this Feast be itself one of a first or second Class.

The Octave of the Immaculate Conception, the first that occurs in the Liturgical Year, is not privileged. It gives place not only to the Sunday, but also to the feasts of St. Damasus and St. Lucy, and to the various local feasts which are of a double or semi-double rite.

LET US once more devoutly reverence the Mystery of Mary’s Immaculate Conception: our Emmanuel loves to see his Mother honored. After all, is it not for him and for his sake that this Bright Star was prepared from all eternity, and created when the happy time fixed by the divine decree came? When we honor the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it is really to the divine Mystery of the Incarnation that we are paying our just homage. Jesus and Mary cannot be separated, for Isaias tell us that She is the Branch, and He the Flower.

We give thee thanks, O Jesus our Emmanuel because thou hast granted us to live during the time that the privilege of thy Blessed Mother was proclaimed on this earth; the glorious privilege wherewith thou didst enrich the first instant of the life of the happy creature from whom thou didst take upon thyself our human nature! This Definition of thy Church has given us a clearer knowledge of thine infinite holiness. It has taught us to see more distinctly the harmony there is in all thy divine mysteries. But it also has impressed upon us the great truth that we ourselves, being destined to the most intimate union with thee here, and to the face-to-face vision of thy infinite Majesty hereafter, must labor without ceasing to purify ourselves from the smallest stains of sin. Thou hast said: Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God; and thou showest us, by the dogma of thy Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception, what is the purity which thy sovereign sanctity demands of us. Ah! by the love which led thee to preserve her from every stain of sin, have mercy on us who are her devoted children. Thou art so soon to be among us! Before many days are past, we shall have yielded to thy invitations, and have presumed to approach thy sacred Crib. We are not yet ready, dear Jesus! The effects of original sin are still so plainly upon us, and , what is worse, there are so many of our own sins, which we have added to this of our first parent: Oh! prepare our hearts and our senses, for we will not approach to Bethlehem unworthily. The sinless purity of thy Mother is not for us; we ask not for that; but we ask for forgiveness of our countless sins, for conversion, for hatred of the world and the world’s maxims, and for perseverance in thy holy love.

PROSE IN HONOR OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD (Taken from the ancient Roman-French Missals)
Cor devotum elevetur, Ut devote celebretur Virginis Conceptio.	Let every heart, that is devout, now raise itself and devoutly celebrate the Conception of the Virgin ever blessed.
Mens amore inflammetur Et amori copuletur Laus et jubilatio.	Let the mind be inflamed with love; and let praise and jubilee unite with the love.
Hæc concepta miro more Est ut rosa cum nitore, Est ut candens lilium.	In her admirable Conception, she is a rose in its beauty, she is a lily in its whiteness.
Ut fructus exit a flore, Est producta cum pudore, Præventa per Filium.	As fruit that comes from the flower, so was Mary brought forth in her purity, for her Son had possession of her from the first.
Sicut ros non corrupmpitur, Quando in terra gignitur Elementi rubigine;	As a dew-drop contracts not a stain from the earth whereon ’tis formed,
Sic Virgo non inflicitur, Quum in matre concipitur, Originali criminæ.	So was Mary untainted by original sin when she was conceived in her mother’s womb.
Nos ergo dulci carmine, Laudemus in hac Virgine Conceptum sine nubilo.	Let us then sing our sweetest hymn in praise of a cloudless brightness, the Immaculate Conception.
Hanc conceptam ex semine, Et mundam ab origine, Laudet chorus cum jubilo.	Put on all your joy, ye choirs of earth, and sing of her, that was a daughter of Adam, but not of his sin.
Ut mota dulci modulo, Nos servet in hoc sæculo Mundos ab omni crimine.	May she be pleased with our hymns, and defend us from all sin in this our present life,
Et in mortis articulo, Liberet a periculo Et inferni voragine.	And when our last hour comes, deliver us by her prayers from the abyss of hell into which the devil will seek to drag us.
Amen.	Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE TIME OF ADVENT (The Mozarabic Breviary, Fourth Sunday of Advent, Oratio)

Nova et inaudita sunt, Domine, quæ propheticus sermo intonuit mundo: quod novo Virginis partu salvatio exorietur creautrarum; cujus admirabile incarnationis mysterium quia devota cordium susceptione Ecclesia suscipit lætabunda: quæsumus, ut in laudem ejus et nova illi cantica deferat et accepta: ut cujus laus ab extremis terræ concinitur, ejus voluntas in toto mundo a fidelibus impleatur. Amen.

New and unheard of tidings are those, which the word of thy prophet, O Lord, has announced to the world: A Virgin shall bring salvation to mankind by giving birth to her Son. Now, therefore, that thy Church, filled with joy, is preparing to receive, with great devotion, this admirable mystery of the Incarnation; we beseech thee, give her to celebrate the praise of the Incarnate Word with new and welcome canticles: that thus, he, whose praise is sung in the furthermost parts of the earth, may see his will fulfilled by the faithful throughout the universe. Amen.