Another chilly morning although I've...

Not been out; it is still a couple of hours before sunrise. Today is the feast of Saint Peter of Alcantara; the Mass is Iustus ut palma.

It is a breezy morning at this point; I don't know if this means the smokiness will be dissipated soon or if the wind is carrying more smoke into the valley. This is Dom Prosper for Saint Peter; it is mostly a citation from two chapters of the Vita of the great Saint Teresa.

'O happy penance, which has won me such glory', said the saint of to-day at the threshold of heaven. And on earth, Teresa of Jesus wrote of him: "Oh! what a perfect imitator of Jesus Christ God has just taken from us, by calling to his glory that blessed religious, Brother Peter of Alcantara! The world, they say, is no longer capable of such high perfection; constitutions are weaker, and we are not now in the olden times. Here is a saint of the present day; yet his manly fervour equalled that of past ages; and he had supreme disdain for everything earthly. But without going barefoot like him, or doing such sharp penance, there are very many ways in which we can practise contempt of the world, and which our Lord will teach us as soon as we have courage. What great courage must the holy man I speak of have received from God, to keep up for forty-seven years the rigorous penance that all now know! Of all his mortifications, that which cost him most at the beginning was the overcoming of sleep; to effect this he would remain continually on his knees, or else standing. The little repose he granted to nature he took sitting, with his head leaning against piece of wood fixed to the wall; indeed, had he wished to lie down, he could not have done so, for his cell was only four feet and half in length. During the course of all these years, he never put his hood up, however burning the sun might be, or however heavy the rain. He never used shoes or stockings. He wore no other clothing than a single garment of rough, coarse cloth; I found out, however, that for twenty years he wore a hair-shirt made on plates of tin, which he never took off. His habit was as narrow as it could possibly be; and over it he put a short cloak of the same material; this he took off when it was very cold, and left the door and small window of his cell open for a while; then he shut them and put his cape on again, which he said was his manner of warming himself and giving his body a little better temperature. He usually ate but

once in three days; and when showed some surprise at this, he said it was quite easy when one was accustomed to it. His poverty was extreme; and such was his mortification, that, as he acknowledged to me, he had, when young, spent three years in a house of his Order without knowing any one of the religious except by the sound of his voice; for he had never lifted up his eyes; so that, when called by the rule to any part of the house, he could find his way only by following the other brethren. He observed the same custody of the eyes when on the roads. When I made his acquaintance, his body was so emaciated that it seem to be formed of the roots of trees."

M l'Abbé's server appears not to have arranged the bookmarks of the missal according to the correct order, ahem; he is an older fellow who has fairly recently entered the ranks. Someone forgot to light the candles the other day (not that that hasn't happened before). Am guessing that the combined ages this morning is more or less 150 years, ha. M Grodziski can be a touch prickly over even very minor details, eh, in my experience (which derives entirely from observation of the video streams, alas). I'd hate to see the state of a church that I was sacristan at, ha. 

Introitus. Ps. 91, 13-14. Justus ut palma florébit: sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur: plantátus in domo Dómini: in átriis domus Dei nostri. Ps. ibid., 2. Bonum est confitéri Dómino: et psállere nómini tuo, Altíssime. V. Glória Patri. 

Collecta. Deus, qui beátum Petrum Confessórem tuum admirábilis pœniténtiæ et altíssimæ contemplatiónis múnere illustráre dignátus es: da nobis, quǽsumus; ut, ejus suffragántibus méritis, carne mortificáti, facílius cœléstia capiámus. Per Dóminum. 

Léctio Epístolæ beáti Pauli Apóstoli ad Philippenses. Philipp. 3, 7-12. Fratres: Quæ mihi fuérunt lucra, hæc arbitrátus sum propter Christum detriménta. Verúmtamen existimo ómnia detriméntum esse propter eminéntem sciéntiam Jesu Christi, Dómini mei: propter quem ómnia detriméntum feci et arbítror ut stércora, ut Christum lucrifáciam, et invéniar in illo, non habens meam justítiam, quæ ex lege est, sed illam, quæ ex fide est Christi Jesu: quæ ex Deo est justítia in fide, ad cognoscéndum illum, et virtútem resurrectiónis ejus, et societátem passiónum illíus: configurátus morti ejus: si quo modo occúrram ad resurrectiónem, quæ est ex mórtuis: non quod jam accéperim aut jam perféctus sim: sequor autem, si quo modo comprehéndam, in quo et comprehénsus sum a Christo Jesu. 

Graduale. Ps. 36, 30-31. Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam, et lingua ejus loquétur judícium. V. Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsíus: et non supplantabúntur gressus ejus. 

Allelúja, allelúja. V. Ps. 111, 1. Beátus vir, qui timet Dóminum: in mandátis ejus cupit nimis. Allelúja. 

+ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Lucam. Luc. 12, 32-34. In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Nolíte timére, pusíllus grex, quia complácuit Patri vestro dare vobis regnum. Véndite quæ possidétis, et date eleemósynam. Fácite vobis sácculos, qui non veteráscunt, thesáurum non deficiéntem in cœlis: quo fur non apprópiat, neque tínea corrúmpit. Ubi enim thesáurus vester est, ibi et cor vestrum erit. 

Offertorium. Ps. 20, 2-3. In virtúte tua, Dómine, lætábitur justus, et super salutáre tuum exsultábit veheménter: desidérium ánimæ ejus tribuísti ei. 

Secreta. Præsta nobis, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut nostræ humilitátis oblátio et pro tuórum tibi grata sit honóre Sanctórum, et nos córpore páriter et mente puríficet. Per Dóminum. 

Communio. Matth. 19, 28 et 29. Amen, dico vobis: quod vos, qui reliquístis ómnia et secúti estis me, céntuplum accipiétis, et vitam ætérnam possidébitis. 

Postcommunio. Quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, qui caelestia aliménta percépimus, intercedénte beáto Petro Confessóre tuo, per hæc contra ómnia advérsa muniámur. Per Dóminum.

LDVM