Sancta Maria, qui calcasti serpentes daemonesque sub pedibus tuis, ora pro nobis!
As we begin the New Year, today is the Feast of the Circumcision, traditionally considered the first time Jesus shed his most Precious Blood in accordance with the Father’s will.
Of course somewhere along the line, Bugnini and Friends™ thought to themselves, “Eww, shedding blood is icky! We need to do something more happy-clappy. Wait a sec, this Mass Collect says something about Mary. Yeah, that’s it! We’ll claim it was an ancient Roman custom to celebrate January 1st as a Marian feast and dedicate it to her instead!”
Page 60 of the Calendarium Romanum, the official explanation for the changes in the Calendar.
Of course, the old Roman liturgies themselves would beg to differ, but you know how the post-Vatican II Church is: they’re not going to let facts get in the way of their historical revisionism!
7th-century Mass prayers for January 1, from the Mohlberg edition of the Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Aecclesiae, also called the “Old Gelasian Sacramentary.” Page 13.
Yet I suppose we should thank our good Archbishop Hannibal, because in changing the Feast-day, he gave us pause for reflection. And it gives a good excuse to share something of the style of conjuration indigenous to historical Catholicism. Continue reading
