AUGUST 5, 2024 – THE DEDICATION OF ST. MARY AD NIVES.
- Dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major (Our Lady of the Snows). (Current, Traditional)
- St. Emygdius (304). Bishop, Martyr. Patron of against earthquakes. (Historical)
THERE are in Rome three patriarchal churches, in which the Pope officiates on different festivals. These are the Basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Peter’s on the Vatican Hill, and St. Mary Major. This last is so called because it is, both in antiquity and dignity, the first church in Rome among those that are dedicated to God in honor of the Virgin Mary. The name of the Liberian Basilica was given it because it was founded in the time of Pope Liberius, in the fourth century; it was consecrated, under the title of the Virgin Mary, by Sixtus III, about the year 435. It is also called St. Mary ad Nives, or at the snow, from a popular tradition that the Mother of God chose this place for a church under her invocation by a miraculous snow that fell upon this spot in summer, and by a vision in which she appeared to a patrician named John, who munificently founded and endowed this church in the pontificate of Liberius. The same Basilic has sometimes been known by the name of St. Mary ad Frasepe, from the holy crib or manger of Bethlehem, in which Christ was laid at his birth. It resembles an ordinary manger, is kept in a case of massive silver, and in it lies an image of a little child, also of silver. On Christmas Day the holy manger is taken out of the case, and exposed. It is kept in a sumptuous subterraneous chapel in this church.
REFLECTION: To render our supplications the more efficacious, we ought to unite them in spirit to those of all fervent penitents and devout souls, in invoking this advocate for sinners.
WORD OF THE DAY
EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical censure by which one is more or less excluded from communion with the faithful. It is also called anathema, especially if it is inflicted with formal solemnities on persons notoriously obstinate to reconciliation. Two basic forms of excommunication are legislated by the Code of Canon Law, namely inflicted penalties (ferendae sententiae) and automatic penalties (latae sententiae). In the first type, a penalty does not bind until after it has been imposed on the guilty party. In the second type, the excommunication is incurred by the very commission of the offense, if the law or precept expressly determines this (Canon 1314). Most excommunications are of the second type. Among others identified by the new Code are the following:
There are three principal effects of this penalty, so that “an excommunicated person is forbidden:
- “An apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic excommunication” (Canon 1364).
- “A person who throws away the consecrated species or takes them or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose† incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See” (Canon 1367).
- “A confessor who directly violates the seal of confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See” (Canon 1388).
- “A person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic excommunication” (Canon 1398).
There are three principal effects of this penalty, so that “an excommunicated person is forbidden:
- to have any ministerial participation in celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice or in any other ceremonies whatsoever of public worship
- to celebrate the sacraments and sacramentals and to receive the sacraments
- to discharge any ecclesiastical offices, ministries or functions whatsoever, or to place acts of governance”
(Canon 1331).
Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)
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