Garden Exercises in Summer

According to Fratellino, a certain fellow at the Oratory in London has described the Salve Regina as "the sound of summer." With it now being the middle of summer, the Brothers in San Diego have resumed the regular observance of the "Garden Exercises" as our prayer before the start of practice. Just as the singing of the Salve Regina begins on Trinity Sunday (and therefore after the Summer Ember Days), the Brothers' observance of the Garden Exercises begins around the time of Corpus Christi.

The "garden" aspect of the Garden Exercises comes from the location of their observance. An outdoor area with vegetation and a depiction of Our Lady are standard for a location. Usually, the Brothers observe the Garden Exercises in places such as a brother's yard. At our most recent meeting, we prayed next to the statue depicting St. Anne reading to the child Mary, which was still on its processional platform in the St. Anne Catholic Church courtyard. Since the St. Anne Fiesta was celebrated the day before, the platform was still decorated with pleasant-smelling flowers, making the location an ideal "garden" space. 

Oratory of Sunday Afternoon

The cursus for Garden Exercises is a recited version of the Oratory of Sunday Afternoon found in the Brothers' manuals. The Litany of the Loreto is prayed, followed by Paters and Aves prayed for things such as the reception of the gift of perseverance, prelates and rulers, and the conversion of sinners. The faithful departed are also commemorated with a Pater, Ave, and Requiem aeternam. The Sub tuum praesidium is then prayed along with the versicle "Ora pro nobis Sancta Dei Genitrix" and the collect "Defende quaesumus." The petitions are comparable to the Simple and Ferial intercessions found in the regular Divine Office, the Suffrage Antiphons at Lauds and Vespers, and the petitions found in the Rogationtide Litanies. 

As at the Divine Office (except at Matins and Compline), the versicle "Dominus det nobis..." is prayed before the singing of the Salve Regina. Following the Marian antiphon's corresponding versicle and collect, another Pater & Ave are prayed along with "five times the Most Holy Names of JESUS" for the final set of intentions. Each recitation of the Most Holy Name by the Brothers is accompanied by the beating of the breast. The last set of intentions includes praying for the absent brethren, a petition also found in the Divine Office that attests to the communal nature of praying the Canonical Hours. Lastly, as at the normal Divine Office, the prayer formerly closes with the Divinum auxilium. 

Buon compleanno, Pippo Buono!

 

On the eve of the feast of St. Mary Magdalene in 1515, after six o'clock in the afternoon, St. Philip was born in the city of Florence. May he continue to pray for us in heaven! A happy 508th birthday to the Good Saint!

St. Philip on Worthy Reception

Today is the great Feast of Corpus Christi. 

Coincidentally, the Maxims and Sayings of St. Philip Neri list the following quote for today, June 8:

"To feel any displeasure because we are refused the Communion, is a sign of hardiness, pride, and a want of mortification."

In our time, humble Christian princes are substituted with defiant elected officials who receive our Lord every Sunday despite supporting the slaughter of innocents and moral corruption. Saints who speak of fear and trembling when approaching the Sacrament are ignored to make room for "radical inclusion" and supposed non-politicization of the Eucharistic table. 

The Eucharist is no casual affair! May stubborn rulers, both secular and ecclesiastical, remember the words of St. Paul in the Epistle of Corpus Christi, and the words of Good St. Philip for this calendar day. Do not harden your heart if you know yourself to be unworthy to receive the Lord, and make penance for your misdeeds as soon as possible.

+I.D.S.P.N.

Concluding Philiptide

Frater David serving at Low Mass on St. Philip's Day (5/26/2023)

Today on Ember Friday in the Octave of Pentecost is the Octave Day of St. Philip Neri. While Philipmas was not impeded this year by the precedence of Whitsun Week, the Phillpmas Octave's remaining seven days all occurred between Whitsun Eve and the Friday of Whitsun Week. 

St. Philip statuette at Our Lady of the Rosary gift shop

Father Joseph Illo of San Francisco's Star of the Sea parish has included his Homily on St. Philip from 2015 on his blog, celebrating the Good Saint's spiritual fatherhood over many in the city of Rome. New Liturgical Movement has also republished an excellent article on Pippo Buono's position as a patron for Traditionalists among the other great Counter-Reformation saints.

As a final piece to commemorate Philiptide, above we have posted a recording from 2013 of the Brothers singing "True Sons of Philip," a joyful hymn recalling the patronage and example of our spiritual father. The hymn is an acrostic sung to the German Marian hymn tune Wunderschön prächtige, with the lyrics modified between each Oratory to spell out the location. For example, the intials of the original hymn's verses read "The Little Oratory in London," while the Cardiff Oratory's variant reads "The Little Oratory, Caerdydd," using the Welsh name for Cardiff. In all cases, the refrain spells "S.P.N.," the initials of St. Philip Neri. 

St. Philip Neri, pray for us!

Courtesy: Fratellino & Jon T

Easter & Whitsun at JPCatholic

Students from John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, CA celebrated the Feast of Pentecost with sung lay Vespers and Compline, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Two students who sing with Chorus Breviarii run the school's Divine Office Ministry, a group who's activities include nightly Compline and the occasional Vespers service. Last year, the Divine Office Ministry invited the Brothers and Chorus Breviarii to celebrate Vespers of the 5th Sunday after Easter. 

Easter Vespers at JPCatholic (May 22, 2022)

The JPCatholic Divine Office Ministry has provided a solid group for young Catholic students to celebrate the Church's Canonical Hours in a well-structured manner, opting for the older Divine Office arrangement and its chants over the modern Liturgy of the Hours. At the end of their most recent Fall quarter, the group celebrated the end of exams with dinner, dessert, and Sunday Compline in Advent. One Chorus Breviarii member in attendance also instructed the group in how to chant the Angelus. 

Fr. Sarfraz Alam, O.S.A., the current chaplain to JPCatholic, attended Compline with us and completed the Sunday Exposition period with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Hopefully we may be able to celebrate full liturgical Vespers with these students again soon! We pray that the Holy Ghost will enlighten these students' minds as they prepare for their final exams and papers this week.

Courtesy: visionaryarts100

Philipmas and the Holy Ghost

This year, Philipmas' occurence on the Friday before Pentecost creates a sort of Triduum of the Holy Ghost composed of Philipmas, Whitsun Eve, and Whit Sunday. The next time this Triduum will occur will be in 2034. 

While St. Philip was in prayer asking for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, there appeared a globe of fire which entered his mouth and lodged itself in his chest, enlarging his heart and breaking his ribs. With the physical enlargement of his heart and its miraculous palpitation and warmth also came St. Philip's charity and joyful spirit excited by those gifts of the Holy Ghost that he had received. We ask today that St. Philip will pray for us to God that our hearts may be prepared to receive the Holy Ghost on Pentecost and be inflamed with love and joy like his.

Tenebrae Conclusion 2023

From Fratellino:

After Tenebrae of Holy Saturday, 2023, sung at St. Anne's, San Diego. So many young faces this year; the future of Catholic Tradition is bright indeed! Laus Deo!!

We had 18 men in choir at Holy Saturday Tenebrae, including students from JP Catholic University in Escondido, choirboys and altar boys from St. Anne, and singers and servers from Ordinariate and TLM communities stretching from the South Bay to Riverside. We were once again joined by Fr. Jesus Valenzuela, F.S.S.P., and Mr. Ricardo Ascensio, F.S.S.P., and the service lasted from about 5:15 to 7:15.

Good Friday post-Tenebrae

Two of the members in choir only informed us the afternoon before of their desire to sing the Office with us, after having been moved by Tenebrae on Good Friday. Our total count of 18 men was 10 more than last year's count of 8 for Holy Saturday. We pray that next year will be even more successful than this year! We will post more photos and videos as they come by.