Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 5 December 1918, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR December 8, Sunday.— Second Sunday of Advent. The Immaculate Conception ' of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ~ 9, Monday.— Of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception. ~ 10, Tuesday.— Octave of St. Francis Xavier. ~ 11, Wednesday.—St. Damasus 1., Pope and Confessor. ~ 12, Thursday.—Of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception. ~ 13, Friday. — St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr. ~ 14, Saturday.—Of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her Immaculate Conception was the first of the privileges by which the Blessed Virgin, was prepared for the dignity of Mother of God. This privilege signifies that Mary never contracted the stain of original sin; that her soul, in the first moment of its union with her body, was pure and spotless. She was thus excepted from the universal doom in virtue of which every member of the human race enters the world stained by Adam’s sin. This doctrine, so admirably in keeping with what the holiness of Mary’s Son required, though expressed more or less explicitly in every age of the Church’s history, was not formally defined until the year 1854. St. Damasus 1., Pope and Confessor. St. Damasus was Pope from 366 to 384. He appears as the principal defender of Catholic orthodoxy against Arius and other heretics. He condemned the Macedonian and Apollinarian heresies, and confirmed the decrees of the General Council of Constantinople. He was very solicitous for the preservation of the Catacombs, and adorned the sepulchres of many martyrs with epitaphs in verse which he himself composed. For his secretary he chose St. Jerome, his faithful friend, and induced him to publish a corrected version of the Bible, known as the Latin Vulgate. St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr. , The island of Sicily honors St. Lucy as one of its most illustrious children. Accused of being a Christian, she steadfastly endured many torments rather than abandon her religion. She died in prison of her wounds, A.D. 304. GRAINS OF GOLD. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Fairer thou than any other, Mary Immaculate. Christ’s own sweet and stainless Mother, Mary Immaculate. Clothed with glory and with splendor, Yet a woman meek and tender. Mary Immaculate. * Higher than the heavenly host, Mary Immaculate. O’ershadowed by the Holy Ghost, Mary Immaculate. Called from out a chosen nation As the handmaid of salvation. Blest above all earth’s creation — Mary Immaculate. ’Neath fhy virgin heart did beat, Mary Immaculate. Christ’s own heart, and so ’tis meet All the earth should rise and greet God’s own Mother, pure and sweet— Mary Immaculate. —Eunice Ward-.