St. Andrew, Apostle - Dec. 1

"St Andrew, the elder brother of St. Peter, and, like him, a fisherman of the lake of Galilee, on hearing St. John the Baptist proclaim that Jesus was the Lamb of God, was moved to follow Our Lord, who chose him to be one of the twelve apostles. It is believed that aft the Resurrection St. Andrew labored in spreading the Gospel in Eastern Europe, and made many converts. At the last he was crucified in Patras in the Greek manner.-SM"

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You can read more about St. Andrew here, in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Or here, for young readers (and not so young!)

Advent always starts on the 1st Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew. It can begin as early as Nov. 27th and as late as December 3rd.

It's also worth noting that on ferias (a "feria" is a day) the commemorations (i.e. the Collect, Secret, and Post Communion Prayers of the preceeding Sunday are added to the feast day commemorations.. Ember days (about more later) have a special Mass. In the case of Advent, the Ember days are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the 3rd Week in Advent (Gaudete Sunday.)

Advent Preface - EF

Sometimes people dig their heels in really hard when there are changes in the litury. HOWEVER, change can be good. For example, in '62 there was a change in the EF which allowed for the use of a Gallician Preface for the season of Advent. Prior to that, the preface wasn't in use in the Tridentine Mass.

The Galliican Rite was the common liturgy in Gaul [i.e. France] -- these Gallican prefaces were supercede in the eight century by the Roman Rite. In 1962 there were several Gallician Prefaces approved for use are: Preface for the Dedication of a Church, Preface of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Preface of St. John the Baptist, Preface of All Saints and Holy Patrons, and the Preface of Advent.

There is an excellent article in the Catholic Encyclopedia about the origins of Advent here. There is NO liturgical support for the claim that the 4 weeks of Advent represent 1 week for each "supposed" millenium from what was then sometimes construed as the "dawn of time" before the birth of Christ. [And no, smart sailors DIDN'T think the wolrd was flat in 1492.[

Prior to '62 the Preface said had been the common Sunday Preface for the Holy Trinity.

The Advent Preface is:

""It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to Thee, Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God: for through the Mystery of the Word made flesh, new radiance from tThy glory hath so shone on the eye of the soul that the recognition of our God made visible draweth us to love what is invisible. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army we sing a hymn to Thy glory, evermore saying: [Holy, holy, etc.] "

The priest can still chose to do the Preface of the Holy Trinity - (the one that's normally done on a Sunday.)

1st Sunday of Advent

"The Spirit of the Sacred Liturgy during Advent, full of the joyful announcement of approaching freedom, is one f holy enthusiasm, tender gratitude and an intense longing for the coming of the Word of God in the hearts of all the children of Adam.

The Introit gives eloquent expression to the feelings of humanity, cast down, yet full of hope, and begs the Saviour to bring it back into the path which leads to Bethlehem, along the way of truth and justice The epistle calls upon us to rouse from sleep. The Church in the Gospel the second coming of Ohr Lord at the end of the world with His first appearance at Bethlehem as Our Reedemer.

Man is made up of spirit and flesh, and whilst the former is desirous of being drawn to truth and love, the latter understand only such good or evil as can be percieved by the senses, and must be held in check by penance and by a fear of the judgements of God. -- SM"

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The Missal notes that the "Station" for the Mass would be at St. Mary Major.

In the glory days of the Church, certainly from th time of Poope Gregory the Great, and possibly before - the people used to gather at difference churches depending what the feast, occasion was. It's well worth checking out this article about Stational Masses here.

Delaware

"Forty-Seventh{*} in area and forty-sixth{} in population; a Middle Atlantic State; one of the thirteen original States bordering the Atlantic and Delaware Bay, Delaware has the distinction of being the flattest State in the Union, but its shore line is the site of numerous resort areas.

Before the coming of the white men, Delaware was inhabited by tribes of aborigines of the Lenni-Lenape stock. The English knew them as Delaware, from the name of the river. Of ancient and proud lineage, they were known as the "original people" and were accorded an honorific pre-eminence by the other eastern Algonquins, under the respectful title of "grandfathers of the red men." As the whites pressed upon them the Delawares gradually retired westward. On of their noted chiefs was Tammenend, from who the Tammany Society derives its name. The Nanticoke, a group similar to the Lenape, lived along the coast of Delaware. They suffered from the nearness of the Colonists and moved northward through Pennsylvania, taking the bones of the dead with them.

In 1609 Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay for the Dutch. The bay was so named c. 1610 by the Virginians in honor of their first Governor, Thomas West, Lord De Lla Warr, who is said to have entered the bay in the interest of England. The region was more thoroughly explored by Hendrickson, 1615-1616. The first settlement however made by members of the Dutch Company in 1631 was soon destroyed by the Indians. By 1638 the Swedes under Peter Minuit settled at the present site of Wilmington. The colony was known as New Sweden. The Swedes surrendered to Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland, 1655, but in 1664 Sir Robert Carr seized the Delaware territory for England. After William Penn was made proprietary of Delaware country in 1682 executive power remained with the Pennsylvania authorities until the American Revolution.

The State was, from early times, free of religious intolerance. This brought an influx of settlers: The Swedes and Dutch were followed by Finns, Scotch, Irish and English; by 1730 Wilmington was surveyed. Catholics were few in Colonial Delaware. The Apoquiniminck Mission in New Castle County was established before 1750 by Jesuits from Maryland, notably Father Ferdinand Farmer, the first priest known to have visited Catholic families at Dover, and Father Matthew Sittensperger who built St. Mary's at Coffee Run in 1772, the first Catholic Church in the State.

During the Revolution, Delaware furnished only two regiments but they were aamong the best in the service. Early settlers came mainly from the farming lands of Europe and when the fur trade with the Indians languished, agriculture became the prime occupation. The first cotton factory was at Broome, 1795. Truck farming and dairying supplying Philadelphia, New York and other large cities. The immigration boom of 1840-1880 brought skilled workers to industry. The State supported the Union in the Civil War although a number of citizens who favored slavery, sympathized with the Confederacy.

In 1816 Father Patrick Kenny built St. Peter's Church which later became the Cathedral Wilmington. The arduous labors and personality of Father Kenny have made him probably the best-known priest in the early Catholic history of the State. A school and orphanage were erected in 1930 by the Daughters of Charity (Emmitsburg, Md.) in Wilmington. The Diocese of Wilmington was erected in 1868 with Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Becker (1868-86) first bishop. He invited the Sisters of the Visitation to Wilmington (1869) where they opened an academy, taken over (1862) by the Ursulines, the Sisters of the Visitation remaining to follow a contemplative life.

The Benedictines from Newark, NJ, arrived for the spiritual care of the Germans at Sacred Heart Church, 1874, Wilmington. Poles, Portuguese, Italians and Greeks required priests of the various languages; the Sisters of St. Benedict came in 1880 to conduct schools. In 1889 Bishop Curtis (1886-1896) invited the Josephites to care for the colored. In 1903 Bishop Monaghan (1897-1925) introduced the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, who opened a day school in Wilmington; and the Little Sisters of the Poor who opened a home for the aged at Wilmington.

The Felician (Franciscan) Sisters arrived from Buffalo, NY, 1897, at Wilmington where they conduct schools in two Polish parishes. The fourth bishop, Edmond J. Fitzmaurice (1925-) invited the Capuchin Fathers to Wilmington (1931) and the Norbertine Fathers to Claymont (1932) founding Archmere Academy. The See of Wilmington comprises the State of Delaware and Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia and is 8 percent{} Catholic. -- S.M."

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{} - there are a number of spots in this post I will amend with more recent data, as to population, %, etc. -- I just wanted to get some actual "typical blog" content up. I will also add, when I get a chance additional information, regards newer bishops, # of dioceses in the state -- there are some pretty good on line sources I can update the info with.

In quoting from the original source, I note that the term "colored" or "negro" is often used to refer to what we now normally would term as "black." In you are not in the know, please be advised until well up to the late 1960s, this was often the NONperjorative way to refer to blacks. I could substitute the word "black" but then that wouldn't be an exact quote, and people would known that the use would have been out of keeping with the time. So no offense is meant, in this or future "State history" type posts.

Conventions for this blog

On this blog I intend to use quite a bit of information from other sources. I think it important to give attribution, and the following conventions are designed to credit to the original author(s).

With that in mind:

Basic text for the posts will be in white. In the main body of the text, if you see something in white, in quotes, assume it was not written by me. It will be followed by a dash and an abbreviation for the original source of the material. I may put some common abbreviations used on the sidebar, but for full details of the source see the bottom of this post..

Any commentary text I add, will not be quoted, but will follow after a line break, followed by a series of dashes.

Sometimes, particularly when quoting the St. Mary's missal I have, information will have changed since 1948, when the book was published - such things as percentage of Catholics in a given US state, or population figures, etc. These emmendations will be given in bright blue type font, placed between curly brackets.

Example:

"St Froddo was born in hard time Mississsippi, surrounded by 4 walls that weren't so pretty, his parents gave him bon-bons, and a unicycle in 1912{1914}. Blah, blah. -- BS"

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Heaven knows why this guy was made a Saint

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Ergo the business about Froddo was a quote from "Bull Stuff " and you can look up the particulars on the source "Bull Stuff" here in detail, or on the sidebar for a short reference. The "heaven knows" comment was something I made up.

Links will be in yellow. Abbreviations for sources will be in red, there will be a short reference to the abbreviation in the sidebar--full details of the publication or source will be at the bottom of this post.

If for some reason, I get a hankering to add a link that also plays music, I will put a musical note or two behind the link, as a "Fair warning" that if you're goofing off at work, or whatever, reading this blog, the link you click to will play some music. A word to the wise.

Also on the side bar, will be some useful links which bring up frequentlly mentioned information - for instance, a list of popes, etc. it may be an external link to another site (duh), or if need be, it may link to a scribd page I've created. [Don't have any up yet, but keep an eye out for them.]

Where census figures and the like are updated, the most likely source will be The Catholic Almanac, or official US Census figures. If a different source is used, I'll so note with a hyphen and an Abbriviation as to source.

Watch my tags, I will try and be consistent. For instance, if there is a lovely series in the St. Mary's missal regards the history of the spread of Catholicism in each state I will try to put not only the name of the state in the tags section, but also the word "states."

Also, as regards to writing up the info. about the states -- for right now, I will not be doing them in alphabetical order. In part, because two states have been added to the Union since '48, namely Alaska and Hawaii, and I'm going to need some time to gather info on those states. I will try and do one state a week, usually in the order the state was admitted to the Union. [If there's a BIG bribe in the offing, however....]

If you're going to drop me a line privately, feel free, HOWEVER, give me a heads up in an online comment -- I generally don't check the email this blog is officially linked to. So, no, I'm not standoffish - it's just that you may be waiting for a MONTH (or more!) sometimes, before I'd see your email -- then you'd think I hated your guts or was ignoring you. You can write me there, of course, but do give me a heads up -- even if you don't have anything to say about that item.

It occurs to me that I am HOURS, and HOURS time zone wise behind most of you -- so I will try to get items that pertain to a given day or days a little ahead of time when applicable, but don't hold my feet to the fire over it. Capisce? Other wise I send out my half-Sicilian Godfather, Uncle Rollie. He's pushing 80, but he can still probably beat the crap out of you because he's a Frozen Chosin.

Abbreviations and their full attributions: (this list will likely expand over time)
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B.P.M. - Refers to the Latin Mass '62 edition recently published by Baronius Press. If they hadn't have been so lame, in some respects, I wouldn't have started this blog. (Well, okay, I had "other resources" to compare them with.)

C.E.N.A. - Catholic Encyclopedia, which is on the New-Advent Website. This reference will probably be used fairly frequently in links.

C.H. - Laux, Fr. John, - Church History (a history of the Catholic Church until 1940) -- originally published in 1930, with periodic emmendations -- Good for "upper high school * College Courses and Adult Reading." recently republished by TAN books. -- I would have loved this book in High School and after. In my day, in the 70s a lot of the religious education courses available were pretty Mickey Mouse (no offense to the Mouse!). [The only challenging class I had for religion was a basic philosophy class I took when I was 16, all the other classes were pretty much an easy "A" unless you were a complete moron, or "B" at worst. You'd have had to cut class to smoke ciggies if you got a "C" or less.

J. - The Mass of the Roman (Its origins and development), by Joseph Jungmann, 2 Vols. Originally published in the 50s, reissued by Collegeville press. I expect this resource will be invaluable for background articles. Jungmann was a master at being thorough, I'm not one for "allegorical" explanations as the main mover and shaker. [Allegorical is fine as an extra layer on type of everything, but it's usually something embroidered after the fact.

M.R.25 - Refers to my beautiful Missale Romanum, published in 1925. It's a beautiful little hand missal, 99% in Latin, designed for priest/seminarian. Quite useful for spotting changes to the calendar, or ritual over the course of the 20th century, when used to compare with other missals.
PEL - A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin, by John E. Collins

S.M. - St. Mary My Everyday Missal and Heritage. - (1948), issued by the Monks of St. Mary's Abbey, Newark, NJ, Rt. Rev. Patrick O'Brien, OSB, Abbot - published by Benzinger Bros.

Why this blog?

But...But...But....Karen....Why this blog? Don't you have a perfectly good blog?

Yes, I do. HOWEVER - in the last year I have been going to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite quite frequently - and in the course of the last year have come across some rather good out-of-print and out-of-copyright (as far as I have researched!) material(s), which I'd like to share with others.

Why NOW? Why did you WAIT if you were sitting on this treasure trove? What are you SELFISH or something?

Yes, I'm selfish ... and .... I didn't think of it before ... and because I've been following the EF form since just before last Lent AND a new liturgical year is about to start, which makes the timing about perfect. With any luck, I can put up a few posts re: some general resources for the EF Mass before this Sunday. Kind of "EF for Dummies" stuff.

What do you expect ALL of us to switch over to the EF?

Nah. I'm mostly doing so that I'm not the last one on planet earth who can appreciate all the loving detail that went into what otherwise might be lost or forgotten publications.

Aren't there new Baronius press missals that are good enough?

New missals, yes. But I found Baronius, and other "new" missals really LAME in some key aspects. Like detail. Would you rather read:

BP: Saint Whozis: Feb. 30th -- Killed under Diocletian

OR

Saint Whozis: Feb. 30th -- St. Whozis was born of parents who ran a circus. Mom was a
high wire artist, and dad fed the elephants. One day, the emporer, Diocletian, decided Jasper, the most famous elephant of his time, should be worshiped as a god. St. Whozis told the emporer he was nuts and Diocletian had him thrown to the lions.

Thought so.

What other cool stuff will be in this blog?

I have three missals I constantly use -- from different eras. One from the 20s, on the late 40s, and one from 62. I love spotting when things change. [It's the history geek in me coming out.]
For instance, why in heck was Oct. 31st dropped from the '62 calendar as a formal vigil? Beats me, but I thought it was interesting that they did drop that. Whatever. Sometime, during the course of the last year, I was really amazed at how UNSTATIC, the "static" EF Mass was. So help me, some of those guys dinking around were like dogs marking their territory. Because they "could."

Also, there a lot of good information on how Catholicism spread in the US, state by state - plus good catechetical points - and how the Church calendar has changed. If I get really ambitious, I can also talk about that messy interim period -- between spring of 64 and 69.

I intend to take us through the Church year, bit by bit.

My *other* blog, will still be my main one but this way you won't have to wade through me unloading on zero.

Karen, why did you chose to use blogger again, instead of wordpress?

Believe me, I was tempted by the fact that you can do pages in Wordpress. I was not enamoured by the pain in the ass templates however, along with certain other Nazi-like features that using Wordpress would involve. Some of the things I intend to do, for instance, give the history of the spread of Catholicism through each state in the US, would lend itself nicely to having a "page" of its own. I think I'll be able to work around this by using good, consistent tags and some decent sidebar gee-whiz prestidigitation. [That's PFM to you folks in Rio Lindo.]

Karen, was the new Maidenform lady REALLY necessary? Isn't this supposed to be a more serious blog, don't you know priests might be reading this blog and find the Maidenform lady offensive?

Perhaps. But then they're probably just stick-in-the-muds anyway. And besides, I wanted to give you a "subtext" heads up that in case you found a smart assed remark here and there you shouldn't be too surprised. I mean, what do you expect when there's a picture of a dame in her bra standing in front of a pink elephant? I WAS going to say underneath her: "I dreamed I found some really cool stuff in my Maidenform bra" but, thankfully, it occurred to me that perhaps that might be misconstrued, so I didn't say that.

More to come -- I still have to add some blog features, and work out some conventions -- so hold your water if you don't see all the normal sidebar goodies just yet .. I wasted most of the day screwing around with wordpress before deciding it was more trouble than it was worth -- so keep your shirt on!!! [Unless, you're wearing Maidenform, or are a guy.]