A Litany of Subdeacon Saints

Ordination of a Roman subdeacon

As promised in my article “A Litany for Sacristans and Those Receiving Minor Orders,” published on October 7, 2019, today I publish a similar litany for those men about to receive the major order of subdiaconate, in accord with the theological and liturgical tradition of the Roman Catholic Church as maintained in certain institutes and communities (e.g., the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter; the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest; the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer or Transalpine Redemptorists; the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming; the Benedictine monks of Norcia).

The litany has been compiled from the last edition of the traditional Roman Martyrology (hardcover; paperback without front and back matter). Those who wish to incorporate this liturgical book into their daily prayer may find instructions here. As before, I have adopted the general format of the Litany of the Saints. After the litany are the corresponding entries from the Martyrology, with the dates.

Subdeacon fulfilling one of his liturgical roles

This litany is intended for private recitation by those who are either already subdeacons or who may soon be promoted to this office. What could be better than to call upon the intercession of the glorious martyrs and confessors of the Faith who, in their own lifetimes, died with the subdiaconal dignity and are forever remembered by Holy Mother Church in that manner? (There is one saint included who became a bishop, but since he is mentioned as subdeacon who was designated by heaven as the next bishop, it seemed appropriate to include him. Naturally, some other men listed in the Martyrology might have been subdeacons, too, but here we are relying on whether they are expressly identified as such.)

A Litany for Subdeacons and Those Receiving the Order of Subdiaconate

(For private recitation)

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. 
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. 
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. 
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.

St Baldomer, devoted servant of God and worker of miracles, pray for us.
St Andeolus, beaten with thorns and cut asunder with a sword, pray for us.
St Leo, faithful companion of the priest St Caius, pray for us.
St Januarius, companion of SS. Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.
St Magnus, great in the eyes of the Lord, pray for us.
St Vincent, conqueror over the fear of death, pray for us.
St Stephen, faithful imitator of the Protomartyr, pray for us.
St Servus, tortured, nailed, burnt, and smitten, pray for us.
St Rusticus, witness to Catholic truth against Arian heresy, pray for us.
St Evortius, elevated from subdeaconhood to the episcopacy, pray for us.
St Martyrius, slain by heretics, pray for us.
St. Quadragesimus, who raised a dead man to life, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. 

Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that the intercession of holy Mary, Mother of God, and of all the holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and of all Thine elect, may everywhere gladden us, that, while we commemorate their merits, we may experience their protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Parallels between East & West: a Greek subdiaconal ordination

Source of the Litany: Entries from the Martyrology

– At Lyons, St Baldomer, a subdeacon, devoted servant of God, whose tomb is glorified with many miracles. (February 27/28)

– In France, in the Vivarais, blessed Andeolus, Subdeacon, whom with others St Polycarp sent from the East into France to preach the Word of God. He was beaten with thorny rods under the Emperor Severus, and at last suffered martyrdom, his head being cut crosswise into four parts with a wooden sword. (May 1)

– The holy martyrs Caius, Priest, and Leo, Subdeacon. (June 30)

– Likewise, at Rome, SS. Felicissimus and Agapitus, Martyrs, Deacons of the same blessed Sixtus, Januarius, Magnus, Vincent and Stephen, subdeacons, who were all beheaded together with him and buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus. There suffered also with them blessed Quartus, as St Cyprian relates. (August 6)

– At Carthage in Africa, the holy martyrs Liberatus (Abbot), Boniface (Deacon), Servus and Rusticus (Subdeacons), Rogatus and Septimus (monks) and Maximus, a boy; in the Vandal persecution under King Hunneric they were assailed by various unheard-of tortures for confessing the Catholic faith and defending the non-repetition of baptism. Last of all they were fastened with nails to pieces of wood wherewith they were to be burnt; but although the fire was kindled again and again, yet by the power of God it was each time extinguished, and by command of the king they were smitten with oars and their brains dashed out, so that they were slain, and thus, being crowned by the Lord, they fulfilled the splendid course of their battle. (August 17)

– At Orleans in France, the death of St Evortius, Bishop, who was at first a subdeacon of the Roman Church, and then by the divine grace was designated Bishop of Orleans by means of a dove. (September 7)

– At Constantinople, the passion of SS. Martyrius (Subdeacon) and Marcian (a chanter), who were slain by heretics under the Emperor Constantius. (October 25)

– Likewise, St. Quadragesimus, a Subdeacon, who raised a dead man to life. (October 26)

One of the duties of the Eastern subdeacon

Photos of Pontifical Mass in New Orleans Seminary

Last week, His Excellency Glen Provost, bishop of Lake Charles, Louisiana, celebrated a Pontifical Mass of Easter Saturday in the chapel of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. We are very happy to share these photos with our readers, because they show once again that it is especially the young who are working so diligently to preserve and promote our Catholic liturgical tradition. It is also a very good sign that the traditional liturgy can now not just be celebrated, but celebrated in its fullest and most elaborate form, within a seminary. Our thanks to Bishop Provost and to the staff of Notre Dame Seminary for this important step in making the fullness of the Roman Rite known and available to the upcoming generation of priests.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Psychology of Difficulty: Time for a New Youth Strategy

At the Fota XI conference in Ireland in July 2018, which had the Divine Office as its theme, many participants made remarks about the way in which the recitation of the postconciliar Liturgy of the Hours has severely fallen off in practice. Many clergy, apparently not seeing it as a serious obligation, either don’t pray it at all, or skip it all too readily. This is perhaps less a problem among younger clergy than among older generations, who, in the confusion following the Council, threw off many obligations (clerical clothing, daily Mass, daily Office, etc.) as so many out-of-date constraints by which their “work in the world” was being hampered—or so they thought. In reality, what finally killed their work in the world was the death of the spiritual life, the loss of the primacy of the cult of God over the “needs,” real or imaginary, of Man. This inversion and perversion is what is killing the Church in the West, wherever it is dying.

It is true that, as Matthew Hazell showed in his talk at Fota, there were a fair number of vota from bishops and superiors prior to the Council asking that the “burden” of the Divine Office be mitigated — sometimes considerably, as by the suppression of certain canonical hours, or by the rendering optional of the little hours. As we know, in the end the ancient office of Prime was suppressed without further ado, and the entire breviary stripped down and reorganized into what some critics have called (not unreasonably) “the Liturgy of the Minutes.”

I found most interesting an observation someone at the conference made, who said: If you make a certain obligation too easy, it becomes all the more easy to hold it in contempt. One feels that it is hardly worth the trouble. (A good example of a light burden readily shirked off is the current one-hour Eucharistic fast.) A heavier burden, because it feels heavy, feels serious, and the absence of it is, oddly, uncomfortable. If you are used to bearing a yoke, and suddenly the yoke is lifted, one can feel off-balance, deprived of a companion, naked and exposed, at a loss.

The old office had weight or gravity to it, and the duty to pray it was emphasized strongly in canon law and priestly formation. (It makes little difference, for our present ascetical theme, whether we are speaking about the pre-Pius X or the Pius X breviary; for both placed considerable demands on the clergy.) The sight of a Catholic priest praying his breviary in the sanctuary before Mass, in the pews after Mass, in the bus, on the train, in practically any spare moment, was a familiar sight. One of the participants in Fota told a story about how, before the Council, an elderly priest would stop his car at night, get out, and finish his breviary by the car headlights, in order not to fail in his responsibility.

Now, I have noticed that, as a general rule, there are two and only two ways of making an appeal to young men to discern the priesthood, and something similar can be said for appeals about religious life. The first way is to say (through words, images, music…): “This is going to be incredibly hard. It will demand everything you’ve got. Many won’t be able to hack it. But with God’s help, you just might. We’re not desperate for you, though, so don’t bother to come if you’re not serious.” The second way is to say: “The life of a Catholic priest is wonderful! You get to be so helpful to people every day. It’s bright and cheerful, even fun at times. We need you. We’ll make it work out for you and nothing will be too hard.”

I was thinking about this in connection with a vocations video my son showed me, made by the Russian Orthodox:

This “trailer” for the longer version (also worth watching) obviously and beautifully illustrates the first type of message. And even though it makes use of the nowadays almost obligatory “Gandalf slaying the Balrog” type of soundtrack, it is impressive in its earnestness.

Contrast this virile message with the flaccid tone of all too many Roman Catholic vocational videos, where it is all smiles, handshakes, coffee hours, and the like. For example, this one, from the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., starts off with a soundtrack that can’t quite decide whether it’s jazz, classical, easy listening, or a movie soundtrack, then features a slick cardinal doing his shtick, followed by jolly junior students — regular guys just like you and me!

This one, from the same diocese, is even worse — especially for the wild west liturgical life it gives us a sneak peak of. It would be hard to imagine most serious young Catholic men finding this appealing.

Another awful vocation video would be this one from the Legionaries of Christ. But in reality, the entire genre is choked with examples of this kind.

Why don’t we contrast the Archdiocese of Washington with the SSPX’s vocational video? It's enough to watch a minute to see that this is going to be very different.

Now, I will be the first to admit that the script could have been more interesting. It follows the somewhat hackneyed “day in the life of…” model. Nevertheless, what do we find here? The soundtrack is Renaissance polyphony. The narrator tells us about the symbolism of a liturgical vestment and shows the seminarians filing in for the office of Prime (believed by some beatniks to have been abolished — don't break it to them that it survived the purge!). Beautiful images of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are followed by a panning shot that features the Angelic Doctor, who is repeatedly referred to. Cassocked teachers lead seminarians in prayer on their knees before class begins. Athletics make a required but thankfully brief appearance. A man is shown repairing a chasuble, which I consider very forward-thinking. All in all, the SSPX video is far closer to the Eastern Orthodox one, and would be similarly appealing to a man in search of a great cause to which to dedicate his life.

All this fits in well with the oft-observed phenomenon that the prospect of challenge or difficulty is what attracts intrepid spirits to make huge commitments. The U.S. Marines have capitalized on this strategy for years. They seek to attract not just warm bodies but talented candidates looking for the best, prepared to endure hardship to win glory. In other words, an elite. In fact, the strategy is as old as Our Lord, who says “take this teaching — if you can” (cf. Mt 19:12), and St. Paul, who compares Christians to olympians in training (cf. 1 Cor 9:24–27). Why, then, are we so afraid of this idea of an elite?

The apostles are often presented nowadays as a ragtag and bobtail crew, but let us consider for a moment how false this picture is. Several were strong and dedicated fishermen who knew how to labor day and night. They were not lily-livered wimps. Another was a Jewish zealot, the desperate sort who would have been ready to ambush Roman soldiers and strangle them. Another was a tax collector, which meant someone who could dominate and intimidate people, and keep a close eye on money in and money out. Two were nicknamed “sons of thunder,” presumably because of their temperaments.

The psychology at work — if you want to recruit good men, set them a towering challenge and then push them hard in its pursuit — seems obviously true in the realm of the military, athletics, and extreme outdoor activities; but it proves no less true in the realm of priestly and religious vocations. If a young man or a young woman is going to commit his or her entire life to the Lord, should it not look and feel quite serious, all-encompassing, demanding everything, but also promising everything? It will take all your mind, heart, soul, and strength, every waking minute, your voice, your lips, your senses, your imagination, your memory — “take it all, O Lord, I give it all to Thee,” as St. Ignatius prayed — but it promises to give you deification, eternal life, a hundredfold now and forever.

For this admirable exchange to be believable — that is, to be able to believe that the Church believes in the reality of this exchange — the way of life it entails must be radical and all-consuming; from the vantage of fallen human nature, it will be burdensome. But this is a necessary step along the path to that “freedom of the children of God” for which we long.

The traditional Latin liturgy is this way, too: it demands more and delivers more. It requires a fuller participation of the whole man, soul and body. We are given more to do spiritually and physically. It makes nothing easy for us — except praying, the one thing we need to do most of all. All of the difficulty is for the sake of breaking open our minds and hearts for communion with God, which will not be won cheaply, lest it be held cheap.

There are a lot of people out there in media, public relations, and, dare I say it, the Church hierarchy, who need to figure out this lesson. The Synod could use a serious injection of the same realism and nobility. (It won't help, since the whole thing has been rigged from the start, but it never hurts to say what the Synod might have been, had it been run by sane people in touch with youth.)

The most obvious way we can recover the toughness, challenge, and lofty purpose we have lost is to take up again the old breviary and the old Mass, and move on from there to a future full of promise.

Fostering Young Vocations (Part 5)

Minor seminarians in Italy, mid 1920s.

A friend of mine who was studying for the priesthood in Italy about 15 years ago told me the following story. One of the men in his seminary had previously been in the minor seminary of a southern Italian diocese, where they had the new Mass, but mostly in Latin, much of it in chant when they sang, celebrated ad orientem, sung Vespers, plus a healthy round of traditional devotions, (daily Rosary for the whole community, frequent Eucharistic Adoration, etc.) The seminarians wore the cassock, just like the young fellows we see here in the photo, plus the surplice and biretta when in chapel. There were fifty of them. Not long after he had come to Rome for his philosophy and theology, a new rector decided it was time for “renewal.” Mass was now celebrated entirely in Italian, the music reduced to the standard four-hymn sandwich. A new altar was installed, facing the pews. Vespers, Rosary, Adoration etc. were all cancelled or reduced to the bare minimum, and of course, the wearing of the cassock, surplice and biretta were all forbidden. Within a few years, the seminarians were down to six.

Matthew Alderman at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, Candlemas Day

The good men of what I was told they call Kenrick-Glennon Industrial Light and Magic -- the seminary's AV experts -- have posted the three lecture and question-and-answer sessions from the day-long workshop I led for about sixty seminarians earlier this week. I hope to post a longer report on my visit, including my observations on the seminary's vibrant liturgical, devotional and spiritual life, and a few other adventures and scrapes I got into along the way. I cannot say enough good things about the prayerful, bright, and articulate men who are studying here--it is always good to see the bright future of the Church manifested so explicitly.

Session 1: Unto the Altar of God: Liturgical Planning is the talkiest of the three sessions, dealing with the intersection of liturgy and the built environment, and what distinguishes an authentic traditional architecture from, variously, modernist monstrosities and an aesthetics solely grounded in nostalgia--often good, but not good enough.

Session 2: The Beauty of Holiness: Aesthetics and Theology: This session was occupied primarily by a follow-up activity led mostly by the students (which is not recorded here, unfortunately), who responded to my lecture with intelligent and probing comments; I was also able to briefly touch on the theology behind the ordered aesthetics of classical and traditional design, which you'll hear here, along with one or two off-topic Monty Python references. (Unfortunately, the slides are not online, so you may have a little trouble following me without the pictures when I refer to them.)

Session 3: Unless the Lord Build the House: Architecture for the Parish Priest was something of a clean-up session, including a guided discussion of the difference between plaster statuary, truly traditional liturgical art, and self-indulgent modern self-expression, as well as a primer on what a parish priest needs to know when he starts on a building project, including comments on choosing and working with an architect, fundraising, and making beauty work on a budget.

Please have a listen--the students' comments are in many cases just as interesting as my own observations, and probably even more so!

Cardinal Barbarin Establishes Seminary for Both Forms of the Roman Rite

Recently there was a meeting of French faithful attached to the usus antiquior, the rencontre pour l’Unité Catholique (Meeting for Catholic Unity), in Versailles, France. In the course of the meeting, Fr. Laurent Spriet of the Association Totus Tuus made an important announcement.

(The Association Totus Tuus, which was established in 2007 by the Archbishop of Avignon and this year recognised canonically by Cardinal Barbarin, the Primate of Gaul and Archbishop of Lyon, is itself attached to the celebration of the usus antiquior, without excluding saying Mass in the Ordinary Form if so requested by the bishop. Msgr. Jean-Pierre Batut, former pastor of the Parisian parish of Saint Eugène-Sainte Cécile, which is equally dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, who was appointed auxiliary of Lyon last year, functions as the protector of this association.)

Fr. Spriet announced, that Cardinal Barbarin will open next year in Lyon a "bi-formalist" seminary, i.e. a seminary dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, which will be both taught and celebrated there. This is the first diocese in France after that of Toulon which offers this possibility to its seminarians. Cardinal Barbarin's project will even go further than that of Toulon: not only will the seminarians have the opportunity to be formed according to the extraordinary form, Mass according to the usus antiquior will be celebrated every day in the seminary, open to all seminarians, including those of the ordinary form.

Source: Paix Liturgique