A Poem from Hilaire Belloc

The Lent issue of the Laudamus Te Magazine of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Liturgy of the Roman Rite, features this poem by Hilaire Belloc:

Our Lord and Our Lady

They warned Our Lady for the Child
That was Our Blessed Lord,
And She took Him into the desert wild,
Over the camel's ford.

And a long song She sang to Him
And a short story told:
And she wrapped Him in a woollen cloak
To keep Him from the cold.

But when Our Lord was grown a man
The rich they dragged Him down,
And they crucified Him in Golgotha,
Out and beyond the town.

They crucified Him on Calvary,
Upon an April day;
And because He had been Her little Son
She followed Him all the way.

Our Lady stood beside the Cross,
A little space apart,
And when She heard Our Lord cry out
A sword went through her heart.

They laid Our Lord in a marble tomb,
Dead, in a winding sheet.
But Our Lady stands above the world
With the white moon at her feet.

Laudamus Te needs some help to stay in production and sent out a notice about subscriptions and delays: if you appreciate the beauty and reverence of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Liturgy of the Roman Rite, you might consider a subscription. The publishers are bravely doing something beautiful in support of the traditional Latin Mass, answering Pope Benedict XVI's call for its renewal:

For this reason we will be taking a break in production. You will receive a Holy Week/Easter Week issue and then not another issue until this summer. We must catch up with propers editing or Laudamus Te magazine will fail. Your subscription will stay intact and resume when we resume. You will still receive the same number of issues that you subscribed to receive. We are very sorry to have to take this measure, but feel we have no choice until we get a little ahead. We hope you will stick with us as we work to catch up!
 
We are struggling to attract subscriptions as well. So far we have about 750 subscribers, but we need several thousand. With every penny going toward production, printing, and mailing costs, we have no budget for advertising. A very kind individual stepped in temporarily to purchase ads for Laudamus Te, but we cannot rely upon this kind of generosity alone.

So, we are launching a subscription campaign. If everyone now receiving Laudamus Te were to attract just two new subscribers, our production costs per copy would drop dramatically and the extra money would provide a much-needed funding cushion. We love this magazine as much as you do and are committed to its success. Will you help? Please tell your friends about the magazine and let us know if you would be willing to pass out flyers at your parish. Many of you have paid for gift subscriptions and made donations, and we very much appreciate your help. Please also keep us in your prayers.

Pre-Lent Liturgical Time: Septuagesima

I look forward to receiving my Pre-Lent Supplement from Laudamus Te which

will contain morning/evening prayers, meditations, and feast propers for Septuagesima Sunday, January 27, through the Feast of the Seven Servite Fathers, February 12.

This is pre-Lenten period known as Septuagesima (seventy)--part of the liturgical year in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite which was replaced by Ordinary Time after the reform of the liturgy in the 1960's and 1970's. Septuagesima begins the fast before Lent: we fast from the Alleluia and the Gloria, and begin voluntary fasting.

The Sundays of Septuagesima are: Septuagesima, and Sexagesima, Quinquagesima and the traditional name for the first Sunday of Lent is Quadragesima. They all mark the time before Easter: 70 days, 60 days, 50 days, 40 days. More about Septuagesima here.

The period before Lent included feasting as well as fasting: in earlier times, Catholics used up all the meat, cheese, and other meat products before Ash Wednesday: Carnival (farewell meat!). And that period ended with Shrovetide in the final days before Ash Wednesday, finishing up the last of the meat and going to Confession just before Lent began. In Kansas, we have an interesting commemoration of Shrovetide with the annual Pancake Race in Liberal, Kansas, held in conjunction with a race in Olney, England. (Making pancakes is a good way to use up grease!) The race recalls an event in the 15th century:

In Olney, the Pancake Race tradition dates back more than 500 years to 1445. A woman engrossed in using up cooking fats (forbidden during Lent) was making pancakes. Hearing the church bells ring calling everyone to the shriving service, she grabbed her head scarf (required in church) and ran to the church, skillet and pancake in hand and still apron-clad. In following years, neighbors got into the act and it became a race to see who could reach the church first and collect a "Kiss of Peace" from the verger (bell-ringer.) The kiss is still the traditional prize in both races.

Advent Resources: Magnificat and Laudamus Te

Every year, the Magnificat monthly prayer book publisher produces an Advent Companion book (it also presents a Lenten booklet) with daily meditations and other devotions for the season leading up to Christmas, including the great O Antiphons. This year's edition includes an essay on "Christmas in England" by James Monti, author of The King's Good Servant But God's First: The Life and Writings of St. Thomas More and of a book set for release next March, A Sense of the Sacred: Roman Catholic Worship In The Middle Ages.

Of course, Mr. Monti mentions English Carols, festivites during the Christmas Season, the Puritan attack on Christmas, and other highlights. Perhaps because his essay is focused on Christmas, he does not include consideration of the Ember Days during the Advent season.

For that, you would need the new publication, Laudamus Te--except that the Advent issue may be sold out! Still available as an ebook perhaps and here's a sample which shows an article on the Ember Days in the Table of Contents. Note that the Christmas issue is at the printer and will ship December 16:

What is Laudamus Te? It is The Magazine of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Liturgy of the Roman Rite:

It is the mission of Laudamus Te to bear witness to the sublime beauty of the ancient Latin liturgy, to foster renewed devotion to its merits, and to aid the faithful in entering more deeply into its sacramental mysteries.

Since the sacred liturgy is at the center of Catholic life, it seems fitting to have a devotional magazine focused on deepening our mystical participation in this sacramental experience. Laudamus Te follows the liturgical seasons of the 1962 calendar, providing daily Mass readings for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Catholic Mass as well as explanatory essays, commentaries by various saints and the Church Fathers, and devotional writings by priests, religious, and laity. Our aim is to draw Catholics into a better understanding of the Mass as a whole and to bring about fruitful meditation and deeper devotion, as well as to educate and inform those who are new to the Extraordinary Form.

My husband and I attend Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form regularly and we both have 1962 missals, but I'm thinking of subscribing to Laudamus Te (I have purchased single copies of the Advent and Christmas issues already).