From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the beginning of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.
Today we venerate the memory of all the Saints in a single commemoration; in order that we may at least pay this service of our devout celebration to them all together, since on their individual birthdays (into Heaven), we cannot show them all their due honor in veneration, whether for the very multitude of the Saints, or our business about the needs of the body. For the Pope of the Apostolic See, Boniface, fourth from Saint Gregory and sixty-ninth from Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, taking occasion from the superstition of the gentiles, who kept this day as a solemnity in honor of all the gods, prudently discerning that the Roman people could scarcely be turned away by reason from evil customs that please the sensual appetite, piously converted to religion that which was instituted in deception; and having ask for the temple from the Emperor, turned the profane cult into a most salutary act of worship.
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Solemn Mass celebrated in the traditional Ambrosian Rite in the Pantheon, May 2, 2010. The celebrant of this Mass, Monsignor Angelo Amodeo, a good friend of the NLM, passed away in 2012, on the fifth anniversary of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum; please remember him in your prayers especially tomorrow. Our own Nicola de’ Grandi is seen here serving as the MC, while the Mass was sung by the Schola Sainte Cécile, led by Henri de Villiers and Philippe Guy.
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On the feast of All Saints and on each day of the Octave, the pre-Tridentine Roman Breviary has a sermon at Matins which tells the legend of the feast’s institution, and then gives 7 lessons on the Saints in the order of the hierarchy of Heaven: God, the Virgin Mary, the Angels, the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs and the Confessors. The last lesson is taken from a homily of St Augustine on the Gospel of the day, which is also read in the Breviary of St Pius V. The anonymous sermon assigned to the third day of the Octave, which we will follow this year, differs in one detail from those of the feast itself and the second day, which we read last year and the year before: the Virgins and other holy women are not mentioned along with the Virgin Mary.
Aña Angeli, Archángeli, Throni et Dominatiónes, Principátus et Potestátes, Virtútes caelórum, Chérubim atque Séraphim, Patriarchæ et Prophétæ, sancti legis Doctóres, Apóstoli, omnes Christi Mártyres, sancti Confessóres, Vírgines Dómini, Anachorítæ, Sanctíque omnes, intercédite pro nobis. – Angels, Archangels, Thrones and Dominions, Principalities and Powers, Virtues of the heavens, Cherubim and Seraphim, Patriarchs and Prophets, holy Doctors of the Law, Apostles, all Martyrs of Christ, holy Confessors, Virgins of the Lord, Hermits, and all Saints, intercede for us! (The Antiphon of the Magnificat at First Vespers of All Saints; here set as a motet by the Flemish composer Heinrich Isaac. (1450-1526))
