Today is the feast of the Archangel Saint Raphael...

Or, until at some point in the reign of Benedictus XV (1914-1922), Monday in the 20th week post Pentecosten, a ferial day. I was happy to read Saint Bonaventure in the lessons of the 2nd nocturn at Matins; the conclusion of the 5th lesson: 

...In hoc enim nobis datur intelligi quod nihil est quod ita nos líberet hódie a servitute diaboli sicut passio Christi, quæ processit ex radíce cordis sive caritátis. Cor enim fons est caloris cunctæ vitæ. Si ergo Cor Christi, hoc est passiónem quam sustinuit, procedéntem ex radíce caritátis et fonte caloris, ponas super carbónes, hoc est super inflammatam memóriam; statim dæmon religábitur, ut tibi nocére non possit.

The Mass is Benedicite Dominum omnes angeli.

Introitus. Ps. 102, 20. Benedícite Dóminum, omnes Angeli ejus: poténtes virtúte, qui fácitis verbum ejus, ad audiéndam vocem sermónum ejus. Ps. ibid., 1. Bénedic, ánima mea, Dómino: et ómnia, quæ intra me sunt, nómini sancto ejus. V. Glória Patri. 

Collecta. Deus, qui beátum Raphaélem Archángelum Tobíæ fámulo tuo cómitem dedísti in via: concéde nobis fámulis tuis; ut ejúsdem semper protegámur custódia et muniámur auxílio. Per Dóminum.

Léctio libri Tobíæ. Tob. 12, 7-15. In diébus illis: Dixit Angelus Ráphaël ad Tobíam: Sacraméntum regis abscóndere bonum est: opera autem Dei reveláre et confitéri honoríficum est. Bona est orátio cum jejúnio, et eleemósyna magis quam thesáuros auri recóndere: quóniam eleemósyna a morte liberat, et ipsa est, quæ purgat peccáta et facit invenire misericórdiam et vitam ætérnam. Qui autem faciunt peccátum et iniquitátem, hostes sunt ánimæ suæ. Manifésto ergo vobis veritátem, et non abscóndam a vobis occúltum sermónem. Quando orábas cum lácrimis, et sepeliébas mórtuos, et derelinquébas prándium tuum, et mórtuos abscondébas per diem in domo tua, et nocte sepeliébas eos, ego óbtuli oratiónem tuam Dómino. Et quia accéptus eras Deo, necésse fuit, ut tentátio probáret te. Et nunc misit me Dóminus, ut curárem te, et Saram uxórem fílii tui a dæmónio liberárem. Ego enim sum Raphaël Angelus, unus ex septem, qui astámus ante Dóminum.

Graduale. Tob. 8, 3. Angelus Dómini Raphaël apprehéndit et ligávit dǽmonem. V. Ps. 146, 5. Magnus Dóminus noster, et magna virtus ejus.

Allelúja, allelúja. V. Ps. 137, 1-2. In conspéctu Angelórum psallam tibi: adorábo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitébor nómini tuo, Dómine. Allelúja.

+ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Joánnem. Joann. 5, 1-4. In illo témpore: Erat dies festus Judæórum, et ascéndit Jesus Jerosólymam. Est autem Jerosólymis Probática piscína, quæ cognominátur hebráice Bethsaida, quinque pórticus habens. In his jacébat multitúdo magna languéntium, cæcórum, claudórum, aridórum exspectántium aquæ motum. Angelus autem Dómini descendébat secúndum tempus in piscínam, et movebátur aqua. Et, qui prior descendísset in piscínam post motiónem aquæ, sanus fiebat, a quacúmque detinebátur infirmitáte. 

Offertorium. Apoc. 8,3 et 4. Stetit Angelus juxta aram templi, habens thuríbulum áureum in manu sua, et data sunt ei incénsa multa: et ascéndit fumus aromátum in conspéctu Dei.

This text is from the 1935 Offertoriale from Solesmes that includes the traditional verses, hence its relative length. It was formerly the custom in the Introits, Offertories, and Communions sometimes to include verses to be sung between repetitions of the antiphons. 

Secreta. Hóstias tibi, Dómine, laudis offérimus, supplíciter deprecántes: ut eásdem, angélico pro nobis interveniénte suffrágio, et placátus accípias, et ad salútem nostram proveníre concédas. Per Dóminum.

Communio. Dan. 3, 58. Benedícite, omnes Angeli Dómini, Dóminum: hymnum dícite et superexaltáte eum in sǽcula.

Postcommunio. Dirigere dignáre, Dómine Deus, in adjutórium nostrum sanctum Raphaélem Archángelum: et, quem tuæ majestáti semper assístere crédimus, tibi nostras exíguas preces benedicéndas assígnet.

Dr Gregory DiPippo has written a splendid responsum to Dr Weigel's reaction to the recent anniversary of the Second Vatican Council which he's published at One Peter Five, not at New Liturgical Movement; a good choice, I think. I sometimes wonder what 'the mainstream' of members at the Church Music Association of America think about some of the more activist writing of Drs Kwasniewski and DiPippo (although from my point of view they bend over backward at NLM not to be needlessly provocative). It is a fairly long essay; my emphasis.

... With all due respect [to Dr Weigel's column, this one evidently ca 2000], this question was put incorrectly. By its 40th anniversary, Vatican II was already neither another Lateran V nor another Trent.

Trent began in 1545, which puts its fortieth anniversary in the 1585. By that point, the Church had already made huge strides in implementing the reforms which it had ordered, and the movement to continue doing so was gaining strength every day, with the strong leadership and support of the Papacy. The spread of Protestantism had been checked in much of Europe, and reversed in some places; the evangelization of the New World was proceeding apace. New religious orders such as the Jesuits and Oratorians were thriving and spreading, and inspiring the older ones to highly successful reforms. The model of Counter-Reformation bishops, St Charles Borromeo, was still alive, and a leading figure in the implementation of the Council’s decrees.

It hardly needs saying that forty years out from Vatican II, the Church was not thriving as it was in 1585.

On the other hand, the fortieth anniversary of Lateran V occurred in 1552… smack in the middle of the Council of Trent. Forty years after Lateran V had failed so spectacularly to bring about any of the reform that the Church so desperately needed (and by so failing, had helped to trigger the Reformation), the Church did not content itself with monomaniacal repetition of the catchphrase, “You have to accept Lateran V!”, while ignoring the fact that everything was burning down around it. Rather, it recognized that its previous feint at reform had failed catastrophically, and set about at Trent to do well what it had done badly at Lateran V.

It hardly needs saying that forty years out from Vatican II, the Church wasn’t doing this either.

The truest parallel with Vatican II to be found among the ecumenical councils is that of Constance (1414-18), the highwater mark of the Conciliarist movement, which taught that the ecumenical council as an institution is superior in authority to the Pope (i.e., a power-struggle: so ironic...). A wave of enthusiasm for something new, something which everyone hopes will bring great benefit to the Church, is quickly followed by a sudden and almost inexplicable dissipation of that enthusiasm. Just as the bishops who attended Constance did not bother to attend the next council which they themselves had called for, the bishops who wrote (with their periti) and approved the documents of Vatican II seemed afterwards to care little or nothing for what they had written....

LDVM