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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 12, 21 March 1901, Page 7

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

March 24, Sunday. — Passion Sunday. „ 25, Monday.— Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 2fi, Tuesday.— Chair of St. Peter at Antioeh. 97 Wednesday. — St. Rupert. Bishop ami Confessor. „ 28, Thursday.— St. Sixtua 111., Pope and Confessor. „ 2<*, Friday — Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin. „ 30, Saturday.— St. John Capistran, Confessor.

PASSION SUNDAY. Passion Sunday is so called because from this day the Church occupies herself exclusively with the contemplation of the Passion and Death of the Saviour. The pictures of Christ crucified are covered on this day in memory of Hia having hidden Himself from the Jews until His entrance into Jerusalem, no longer showing Himself in public. In the Mass, the • Glory be to the Father,' etc., is omitted because in the person of Christ the Holy Trinity was dishonored. The psalm 'Judica' is not said, because on this day the high priests held council about our Lord, for which reason in the name of the suffering Saviour the priest uses these words at the 1 Introit ' : — ' Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy : deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man, for Thou art my God and my strength, etc' THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. When our first parents Adam and Eve had, by their disobedience to the Divine command, defiled our human nature with the guilt of sin, and drawn down the vengeance of heaven on themselves and their posterity, God in His infinite mercy promised that another Eve should one day appear on earth, who, by giving birth to the Saviour of the world, would repair the ruin brought on mankind through the malice of the devil. After some thousands of years of anxious expectation, during which the world groaned under the burden of sin, and the gates of heaven remained closed against the human race, the day of deliverance at length arrived. A solemn embassy was sent from heaven to negotiate with her, who from all eternity had been chosen to be the Mother of the Incarnate God, the important work of man's redemption. The ambassador was the great Archangel Gabriel ; and she to whom his mission was directed was a humble virgin of the race of David, and was espoused to a poor but virtuous artisan named Joseph. The history of this great event, the greatest that the world has ever seen, is recorded by the Evangelist St. Luke, who probably learnt the particulars of this as well as of the other mysteries of our Lord's early life from the lips of our Blessed Lady herself. It is to remind us of the infinite goodness of God as manifested in the Mystery of the Incarnation, and to honor Mary as the Mother of the Word made Flesh, that the Feast of the Annunciation h as been instituted by the Church. For the same reasons the Angelu b bell is sounded thrice each day — namely, morning, noun, and evening, when we are invited to meditate on the great mystery of a 1 God made Man,' and to recite a prayer in honor of the Mother of the Redeemer.

CHAIR OF ST. PETCR AT ANTIOCH. On this day is commemorated the establishment by St. Peter of his episcopal See at Antioeh, whence for seven years he ruled the Church before finally fixing the seat of hia spiritual government at Rome.

bT. RUPERT, BISHOP AND COXTK^SOR. St. Rupert, a Frenchman illustrious for his noble birth, but still more so for his many virtues, was Bishop of Salzburg in Bavaria, the inhabitants of which country he had converted to the True Faith. He died about the beginning of the seventh century.

■ST. SIXTUS 111., POPE AND CONFEbSOR. St. Sixtus succeeded Pope St. Celestine in i'A'2. His pontificate lasted till 440. The meek and forgiving spirit of this Pope was shown by his many acts of kindness towards a Roman nobleman by whom he had been grievously slandered.

6T. JOHN CAPISTRAN. St. John Capistran was a disciple of St. Bernardine of Siena, and was born in 1385 at Capistrano, Italy. He showed great seal and power in preaching ; he traversed Italy, Austria, Moravia, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and part of Germany. He received the abjuration of 1 1,000 Hussites. To his zeal and eloquence, principally is ascribed the great victory, which, in 1406, the Christians, under the gallant Hanniades, gained at Belgrade, over Mohammed 11.