[Rank]
Secunda die infra Octavam S. Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Semiduplex;;2;;ex Sancti/09-08

[Rule]
ex Sancti/09-08;
9 lectiones
Doxology=Nat
No prima Vespera

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of Saint Austin Bishop (of Hyppo)
!Serm. 18. on the Saints
Mary is happy, with joyful wonder at her own Motherhood, and her joy is that she~
is fruitful by the Holy Ghost. She is not alarmed to find herself an unwedded~
mother, but still is in joyful wonder at her Motherhood. Oh woman blessed above~
women, who doth nowise know a man, and yet compasseth a man in the womb. Mary~
compasseth a man by believing the Angel, since Eve lost a man by saying Yea to~
the serpent. Happy obedience, glorious grace! which yielded lowly belief, and~
embodied in her Him Who created the heavens. Hence she earned that glory which~
He afterward increased. Behold, saith she, from henceforth, all generations~
shall call me blessed.

[Responsory4]
@Sancti/09-08:Responsory4

[Lectio5]
Blessed Mary, who is able enough to thank and to praise thee, thou, who by once~
saying Be it unto me, hast arisen to help a lost world? What blessings shall~
weak man utter upon thee, thou, who, by thine own one treaty, hast given unto~
him to find the entrance into new life? Receive these far and random, these~
unworthy thanksgivings, and, since thou receivest our prayers, by thy prayers~
obtain pardon for our sins. Let our supplications come into thine hallowed~
presence, and give us in return the medicine for our healing.

[Responsory5]
@Sancti/09-08:Responsory5

[Lectio6]
If we ask through thee, make our request forgiven what we ask honestly, make~
obtainable. What we offer, do thou receive; what we pray for, do thou grant;~
what we fear, do thou get remitted for thou art the sinner's only hope.~
Through thee we hope for the remission of our sins; in thee, O thou most~
blessed! we look for reward. O Holy Mary, be thou an help to the helpless, a~
strength to the fearful, a comfort to the sorrowful; pray for the people, plead~
for the clergy, make intercession for all women vowed to God; may all that keep~
thine holy Birth-day feel the might of thine assistance. 

[Responsory6]
@Sancti/09-08:Responsory6

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 1:1-17
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of~
Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob. And so on.
_
Homily by St Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. i. Comment, on Matthew.
And Jacob begat Joseph.~
This is one of the passages which the Emperor Julian (the Apostate) put forward~
against us as an instance of mutual contradiction between the Evangelists, for,~
whereas Matthew here saith that Jacob begat Joseph, Luke (iii. 23,) saith that~
Joseph was the son of Heli. Julian understood not the use of Scripture, and that~
the one was the father of Joseph by nature, and the other according to the Law.~
We know that Moses, by the command of God, ordained If brethren dwell~
together, and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not~
marry without, unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and~
take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.~
And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth shall succeed in the name~
of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel, (Deut.~
xxv. 5, 6.) Joseph, the husband of Mary. Let not this title of husband lead thee~
to form any thought of (completed) wedlock, but remember the use of Scripture to~
speak of Bridegroom and Bride as Husband and Wife

[Responsory7]
@Sancti/07-02:Responsory7

[Lectio8]
And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.~
Count from Jechonias to Joseph, and thou wilt find only thirteen generations.~
Christ therefore Himself is to be counted as the fourteenth generation. Now the~
birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. The careful reader will say Since~
Joseph was not the father of the Lord~
Saviour, what concern with the Lord hath Joseph's pedigree? To this we answer,~
first, that it is not the use of Scripture to give the pedigrees of women; and,~
secondly, that Joseph and Mary were of the same family, so that they were bound~
by the law to marry, and to be both enrolled at Bethlehem, as scions of one and~
the same stock.


[Responsory8]
@Sancti/07-02:Responsory8

[Lectio93]
!Commemoratio for the Holy Martyr Gorgonitis.
Gorgonius was a native of Nicomedia, and one of the chamberlains of the Emperor~
Diocletian. He, with the help of a fellow-chamberlain named Dorotheus, brought~
all the other chamber-servants to believe in Christ. Both of them one day saw a~
martyr hideously tortured in the presence of Diocletian, and the ensample of his~
testimony roused them both up to desire the same, and they both said: Why, O~
Emperor, dost thou punish this man only, by condemning an opinion which we share~
with him? His belief is our belief. Our will is the same. The Emperor thereupon~
ordered them to be bound and scourged till their bodies were perfectly flayed,~
and a mixture of vinegar and salt poured into the wounds. Soon after he~
commanded them to be bound again and grilled on bars over hot coals. Finally,~
after a variety of tortures, they were hanged. The body of the holy Gorgonius~
was some time brought to Rome, and buried between the two laurel-trees upon~
the Latin Way, but, afterwards, during the Pontificate of Gregory IV., it was'~
brought into the Church of the Prince of the Apostles.
&teDeum

[Commemoratio]
!Commemoratio S. Gorgonii mart.
@Commune/C2:Oratio proper
$Oremus.
O Lord, may thine holy servant Gorgonius gladden us by his prayers, and make~
this his blessed Festival to be unto us indeed a day of rejoicing.
$Per Dominum
