Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 6, 8 February 1923, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. February 11, Sunday.—Quinquagesima Sunday. „ 12, Monday. Seven Founders. ~ 13, Tuesday.Of the Feria. ~ 14, Wednesday. Ash Wednesday. „ 15, Thursday.—Of the Feria. „ 16, Friday the Feria. ~ 17, Saturday.—Of the Feria. V The Seven Founders. The Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin, commonly called Servites, owes its origin to the zeal and piety of seven Florentine merchants. After distributing their goods among the poor, they retired to Monte Senario, near Florence, where they dwelt in cells as hermits. This was in 1233, which is regarded as the date of the foundation of the Order. They subsequently became a monastic community under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin. They adopted the Augustinian Rule, and for their habit wore a black tunic with a scapular and cape of the same color. Under St. Philip Beniti, the first general, the Order spread rapidly, chiefly in Italy and Germany. St. Juliana Falconieri is regarded as the foundress of the Servit© Third Order. The Servites were approved by Alexander IV., in 1255. Innocent VIII. declared the Servites a mendicant Order, bestowing on them the privileges enjoyed by the other mendicants. Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday, the Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, is the first day of the Lenten fast. The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Oman Missal, is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks upon the forehead of each the Sign of the Cross, saying the words : “Remember, man, that, thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” The ashes used in this ceremony are mad© by burning the remains of the palms blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year. In the blessing of the ashes four prayers are used, all of them ancient, and the ashes are sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense. The celebrant himself, be he bishop or cardinal, receives either standing or seated the ashes from some other other priest, usually the highest in dignity of those present. In earlier ages a penitential procession often followed the rite of the distribution of the ashes, but this is not now prescribed. GrainsTof Gold PENITENCE. Grey days of Lent, of Passion-tide and pain, ; There is a beauty in your silent hours; ‘•t; Your tears are like the blessed silver showers That bring each lowly dell to bloom again. They wash away each spiritual stain And come, as with great Pentecostal powers, To freshen up these arid hearts of ours. Dear days, blest days, ye never come in vain! The solemn' touches of your grey dove wings Stir into deepening plenitude of power Our dull desires. They shine, as those wings do, With rose and emerald from a fire that flings Unearthly radiance on each tearful hour. Bliss of Forgiveness, warm us through and through! ' Caroline D. Swan. : > gL REFLECTIONS. ' , ' ; • Accuse not another of a crime from which you cannot • clear yourself.— St. Fabian. _ Nothing can give me greater pleasure than to hear again and again what my beloved Master suffered for me. St. Francis of Assisi. - ' 1 ' --.--. A