The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-12-02
ADVENT.

Advent, according to present usage,
says the Catholic Encyclopedia, is a
period beginning with the Sunday
nearest to the feast of st. Andrew the
Apostle November S0) and embracing
four Sundays. The first Sunday may
be as early as November 81, and then
Advent has twenty-eight days, or as
late as December 8, giving the season
only twenty-one days. With Advent
the ecclesiastical year begins in the
Western churches. During this time
the faithful are admonished to prepare
themselves worthily to celebrate the
anniversary of the Lords coming into
the world as the incarnate God of
love, thus to make their souls fitting
abodes for the Redeemer coming in
Holy Communion and through grace,
and thereby to make themselves ready
for His final coming as judge, at death
and at the end of the world.
To attain this object the Church has
arranged the Liturgy for this season.
In the official prayer, the Breviary,
she calls upon her ministers in the
Invitatory for Mathis, to adore 'the
Lord the King that is to come" ''the
Lord already near" Him whose glory
will be seen on the morrow"
In the Masses the intention of the
Church is shown in the choice of the
Epistles and Gospels. In the Epistle
she exhorts the faithful that, since the
Redeemer is nearer, they should cast
aside the works of darkness and put
on the armor of light; should walk
honestly, as in the day, and put on the
Lord Jesus Christ; she shows that the
nations are called to praise the name
of the Lord; she asks them to rejoice
in the nearness of the Lord, so that
the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, may keep their hearts
and minds in Jesus Christ; she ad-
monishes them not to pass judgment,
for the Lord, when he comes, will
manifest the secrets hidden in hearts.
In the Gospels the Church speaks of
the Lord coming in glory; of Him in,
and through, Whom the prophecies are
being fulfilled; of the Eternal walk
ing in the midst of the Jews; of the
voice in the desert, Prepare We the
way of the Lord" The Church in her
Liturgy takes us in spirit back to the
time before the incarnation of the Son
of God, as though it were really yet
to take place. Cardinal Wiseman
says: 1--WE are not dryly exhorted to
profit by that blessed event, but We
are daily made to sigh with the Fa-
theirs of old, Send down the dew, We
heavens, from above, and let the
clouds rain the Just One; let the earth
be opened and bud forth the Re-
deemer.' The Collects on three of the
four Sundays of that season begin
with the words, Lord raise up thy
power and come'-as though we
feared our iniquities would prevent
His being born"
On every day of the Advent the
Office and Mass of the Sunday or Feria
must be said, or at least a Com
memoration must be made of them,
no matter what grade or feast occurs.
In the Divine Office the TIE Deum, the
joyful hymn of praise and thanksgiv-
ing, is omitted; in the Mass the Gloria
in Excelsis is not said The Alleluia,
however, is retained. During this time
the solemnization of matrimony (Nup-
tial Mass and Benediction) cannot
take place; which prohibition binds
to the feast of Epiphany inclusively.
The celebrant and sacred ministers
use violet vestments. The deacon and
subdeacon at Mass, in place of the
dalmatics commonly used, wear folded
chasubles. The subdeacon removes
his during the reading of the Epistle,
and the deacon exchanges his for
another, Or for wider stole, worn
over the left shoulder during the time
between the singing of the Gospel and
the Communion. An exception is made
for the third Sunday (Gaudete Sun
day. on which the vestments may be
rose-colored, or richer violet ones; the
sacred ministers may on this Sunday
wear dalmatics, which may also be
used on the Vigil of the Nativity, even
if it be the fourth Sunday of Advent.
Pope Innocent III (119S-1216) states
that black was the color to be used
during Advent, but violet had already
come into use for this season at the
end of the thirteenth century. Bint-
erin says that there was also a law
that pictures should be covered during
Advent. Flowers and relics of Saints
are not to be placed on the affairs
during the Office and Masses of this
time, except on the third, Sunday; and
the same prohibition and exception
exist in regard to the use of the
organ. The popular idea that the four
weeks of Advent symbolic the four
thousand years of darkness in which
the world was enveloped before the
coming of Christ finds no confirmation
in the Liturgy.
IMPROPER CONVERSATION.