TRIDENTINE MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS PARISH, LITURGY 16 TIN KWONG ROAD, MA TAU WAI, COMMUNITY KOWLOON. MARCH 2013 CHAPLAIN: REV. FR. FRANCIS LI ADVISORS: FR. PETER TSANG, BR. CARLOS CHEUNG EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: TRIDENTINE.CATHOLIC.ORG.HK SUNDAY MASS: 12.30PM IN EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE ROMAN RITE (CONFESSIONS ARE AT 12:00NN OR BY ARRANGEMENT) Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intentions General Intention: Respect for Nature. That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God's work entrusted to human responsibility. Missionary Intention: Clergy. That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Devotion for the Month March – St. Joseph Upcoming Events 9th March Mass for the Papal Conclave will be held at 11am, at Mary Help of Christians Church. 29th March Good Friday. Mass of the Presanctified at 12nn, at Chapel of Caritas Medical Centre, Cheung Sha Wan. 7th April Monthly luncheon gathering at music room after mass. Feasts of the Month 7th March St. Thomas Aquinas, Confessor, Doctor 19th March St. Joseph, Spouse of the BVM, Confessor 22nd March The Seven Sorrows of the BVM Article The Importance of Marian Antiphon In the Liturgy of the Hours, there are several Marian Antiphons sung in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in this article we only explain the importance of the 4 major Marian Antiphon: “Alma Redemptoris Mater”; “Ave Regina Caelorum”; “Regina Coeli” and “Salve Regina”. What is Antiphon? Antiphon comes from the Greek antiphonon, which means singing oppositely or alternate chant. It consists of one or more psalm verses or sentences from Holy Scripture which are sung or simply recited before and after each psalm and the Magnificat during Matins and Vespers. The verse which serves as the antiphon text contains the fundamental thought of the psalm to which it is sung, and indicates the point of view from which it is to be understood. In other words, it gives the key to the liturgical and mystical meaning of the psalm with regard to the feast on which it occurs. The Marian antiphons, including “Alma Redemptoris Mater”, “Ave Regina Coelorum”, “Regina Coeli” and “Salve Regina”, although originally sung in connection with psalms, from which they derive their name, have been sung as detached chants since the year 1239, when Pope Gregory IX ordered that one of them, according to the season, be sung at the end of the office. “Alma Redemptoris Mater” The “Alma Redemptoris Mater” is one of the four seasonal antiphons prescribed to be sung or recited in the Liturgy of the Hours after Compline or Vespers. It is usually sung from the eve of the first Sunday of Advent until the day before the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. The form of the poem, six hexameters with simple rhyme, was long thought to have been the style of the monk, Hermann Contractus (Herman the Lame) from the monastery of Reichenau, Lake Constance. The text also is incorporated into a Marian sequence of the 12th century entitled, “Alma redemptoris mater, quem de caelis.” The sequence originated in the 12th century in southern Germany about the same time that the manuscripts of the first musical setting of the Alma in plainchant appeared. Some authors relate the antiphon to another entitled, “Ave Maris Stella”. “Alma Redemptoris Mater” was originally a processional antiphon for Sext in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Feast of the Ascension. As a rule, composers retained the character of Advent longing and Christmas adoration in the “Alma” compositions. The world waits with the Virgin for the wonderment of nature to take its course. God touches earth in her and comes to us in the fullness of time. “Ave Regina Caelorum” The antiphon, “Ave Regina Caelorum”, is sung as the concluding antiphon in the Liturgy of the Hours from the Presentation of the Lord until Holy Thursday. It was originally sung for None for the Feast of the Assumption. The author is unknown. The earliest plainchant manuscript stems from the 12th century. What is said of Mary is said in relationship to Christ. He is the King. Mary reflects his kingship and by a journey of faith, she may share in his kingship, both its agony on earth as she stands at the foot of the cross and its glory in the eternal kingdom. Her choice to be Christ-centered and God-bearer gives her a dignity above the angels. She is of Jesse's root from whom the Saviour will come. Her womb is the gate from whom the true Light, Jesus Christ, was born. Mary not only bears Christ, but also has been graced by Him and because of Him, she has been given the fullness of beauty. She is the glorious virgin, loveliest in heaven, “fairest where all are fair.” All are called to be filled with Christ, we among them, Mary pre-eminently so because of her role in the plan of salvation. It is the Christ life, His grace, God alone, who is beauty beyond all measure. The human person looks at Mary and rejoices with her that He has graced her so wondrously. We ask her to remind her son of our needs and to pray for us to Christ. “Regina Coeli” The “Regina Coeli” is the most recent of the four evening antiphons. In written form the “Regina Coeli” can be traced to the 12th century. Most sources indicate that it was probably an adapted Christmas antiphon. The authorship is unknown. “Legend says that St. Gregory the Great (d. 604) heard the first three lines chanted by angels on a certain Easter morning in Rome while he walked barefoot in a great religious procession and that the saint thereupon added the fourth line: ‘Ora pro nobis Deum. Alleluia’.” Marienlexikon attributes this source to the Golden Legend around the year 1265. The authorship has also been attributed to Gregory V but with no foundational evidence. The Franciscan heritage indicates that it was used already in the first half of the 13th century. “Together with the other Marian anthems, it was incorporated in the Minorite-Roman Curia Office, which, by activity of the Franciscans, was soon popularized everywhere and which, by the order of Nicholas III (1277-80), replaced all the older Office-books in all the churches of Rome.” Its use as a concluding evening antiphon during Eastertide dates from the mid-13th century, although it first appeared in a manuscript dating from about 1200 of the Old Roman chant tradition, where it was used as the Magnificat antiphon for the octave of Easter. More specifically, the Marienlexikon states that the oldest musical score is retained in St. Peter’s at the Vatican in a manuscript from 1171 (Vat. lat. 476); another, a Franciscan antiphonary dated 1235, is found in the archive of Munich’s St. Anna Monastery. Thereafter it is found in many manuscripts of the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1742, Benedict XIV decreed that the “Regina Coeli” was to be prayed in the Easter season during the ringing of the Angelus bell. “In the prescribed regulation, to pray the Regina Coeli always standing, is a continuation of the oldest form of Easter prayer.” The words “Regina Coeli” are best translated ‘Queen in Heaven.’ It is an Easter title of honour and signifies that the Mother of Christ already participates in the Easter glory of her son. Instead of the usual address for Mary, Ave, the Laetare, rejoice, is used. This is an invitation to look to Mary as she lives now: the servant of the Lord on earth has become queen of heaven. In her exaltation, she has become a sign for all who are united with Christ through baptism. As the preface for the August 15th Feast of the Assumption says, “the virgin Mother of God was taken up into heaven to be the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection.” All of the baptized can look forward to this promise. The antiphon reminds Mary, the crowned mother of the redeemer, of the promise fulfilled by using the angel’s words, “He has risen as he said!” (Matthew 28:6) The antiphon ends with a petition for intercession, “pray for us to God. Alleluia!” “Salve Regina” “Salve Regina” is the best known and perhaps most frequently sung antiphon. It is prescribed from Trinity Sunday (after the Easter season) to the eve of the first Advent Sunday. It is attributed to a wide variety of authors: Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter of Compostela (b. 930) who may have translated it from the Greek, Adhemar de Monteil of Puy (ca. 1080), Hermann the Cripple, Athanasius, John Damascene, and Pope Gregory IX. The earliest known manuscript was found at Reichenau, latest early 11th century. In the 18th century, the Salve Regina became a key focus of the classic Roman Catholic Mariology book The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori. In the first, and key part of this book St. Alphonsus, a Doctor of the Church, discusses the “Salve Regina” in detail and based on it explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the ‘Gate of Heaven.’ Here is one of the Excerpts of the book: "If the Son is a king," says St. Athanasius, "the Mother who begot him is rightly and truly considered a Queen and Sovereign" ("Si ipse Rex est, qui natus est de Virgine, Mater quae eum genuit, Regina et Domina proprie ac vere censetur."—Serm. de Deip). "No sooner had Mary," says St. Bernardine of Sienna, "consented to be Mother of the Eternal Word, than she merited by this consent to be made Queen of the world and of all creatures." ("Haec autem Virgo, in illo consensus, meruit primatum orbis dominium mundi, sceptrum regni super omnes creaturas."—Pro fest.