Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1916 — St. Augustine’s Church Notes. [ARTICLE]

St. Augustine’s Church Notes.

The greatest festival of the church is near at hand. It comes annually to commemorate the resurrection, the greatest fact of Christian religion. Easter is .a glorious dawm following a night of darkness and sorrow. The Lenten period is but a preparation for the glorious awakening of Easter, •on awakening of the soul, a full realization of the surpassing joy at the resurrection. During this week there is great opportunity for obtaining the grace of God in its complete fullness. M every day of Holy Week is observed properly, it is safe to say that the soul thus. Observing it has advanced far on the road to salvation, for plentiful graces of God will strengthen the soul to defend it successfully against the temptations of this troublesome life.

The services during the last three days of Holy Week will ibe as follows: On Maunday Thursday the high mass will be at 9 6’clock. On this day the church commemorates the institution of the Blessed Eucharist. On this day one mass only can be said in the same church and must be a public one. White vestments are worn by the priest, the altar is decorated with flowers and .even the purple veil Which covers the cross during Passiontide, is replaced by one of white. The Celebrant consecrates two hosts, one for the priest who officiates on Good Friday, when there is no consecration. This host is carried in procession bo a place known as the repository or sepulchre, where it remains until the following day. After mass on Maunday Thursday the signs of the mourning proper to Passiontide are resumed. The altar is stripped of its coverings and of ornaments of all kinds, the lights in the sanctuary are extinguished and the door of the empty talbemacle is left open. In Rome the Pope washes the feet of 13 poor persons, all of them priests. On Maunday Thursday the yearly consecration of the holy oils takes place, each bishop consecrating a sufficient quantity of the oils for the wants of his diocese during the ensuing year. These oils are three in number—the oil for the sacarment of extreme unction, that for anointing those who are baptized, and also for anointing the priest’s hands at his ordination, and the fcacred chrism, a mixture of the oil and balsam used in the sacrament of confirmation and at the consecration of bishops. On Good Frida ythe services will be at 9 o’clock.

On this day the church commemorates the Passion of Christ, so that it is the saddest and most solemn day in Holy Week. The officiating clergy appear in black vestments and prostrate themselves before the altar, which is still stripped. No candles are lighted, the organ is not played nor are the bells rung.- The most striking and singular feature of the Good Friday liturgy is the omission of holy mass. In its place is the mass presanctdfied, in which the priest receives in holy communion a host consecrated p on Maunday Thursday. The Blessed 'Sacrament is borne from the repository or chapel where it was placed the previous day, while the choir sings the hymn Vexilla Regis (“The of the King.”) Good Firday is not a holy day of obligation. The church forbids the giving of holy communion to the faithful, except as viaticum to the dying. The ceremonies of Good Friday are most solemn and he who follows them in a true spirit and devout meditation cannot help but realize what our Lord has done for the redemption of mankind. On Holy Saturday the services will begin at 6 o’clock. The ceremonies begin with the blessing of a new fire that has been kindled with a flint and steel. From this a candle with threestems and placed on a reed is lighted and carried up the church -by a deacon who three times chants the words: “Lumen Christe.” The paschal candle is then blessed by the deacon who fixes in it five grains of blessed incense in memory of the wounds of Christ and the precious spices with which he was anointed in the tomb. This candle is afterwards lighted from the triple candle on the reed. The blessing of the Paschal Candle is followed by the reading of the twelve prophecies, after Which th© priest goes in procession to bless the font. The water in the font is scattered toward the four quarters of ,bhe world to indicate the Catholicity of the church and the world-wide efficacy of her sacraments; the priest breathes on the water in the form of a cross end plunges the Paschal Candle into the water, for the Spirit o'? God ii to hallow it and the power .of Christ is te descend on it. Lastly a few drops of the oil of catechimens and the chrism are poured into the font, in order to signify the union of Christ our anointed King with,. His. people. On the way back from the font the Litany of the Saints is begun, and when it is ended the altar is decorated with flowers and the mass is begun in white vestments. The pictures and statues in the church that haYe been veiled since Passion Sunday, are now

uncovered. The organ and bells are heard again and the joyful Alleluia is resumed. Why does the church make use of ceremonies in the celebration of her sacred mysteries? That we may serve God not only inwardly with the soul but outwardly with the body by external devotion that we may keep our attention fixed, increase our de votion and edify others; that by thess external things we may be raised to the contemplation of divine inward things. Other services at the St. Augustine’s church are as follows: Wednesday evening 7 rosary and sermon; Thursday at 2:30, Eucharistic Stations and at 7:30 Lenten devotions. Friday fnrnn 2 to. Cross, and at 7:30 Lenten devotion. There will be opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Penance on the following days: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons and evenings. On Saturday the vigil of Easter’s a day of fast and abstinence.