This is another post for Zephyrinus. It is your Feast Day today! St Zephyrinus (according to the St Andrew's Daily Missal) succeeded St Victor to the Apostolic See, and was also martyred. He abolished the use of wooden chalices in the celebration of Mass, and ordered them to be replaced by glass ones (I find that rather odd, since the use of glass is also forbidden). He also ordered all of Christ's faithful to receive Holy Communion on Easter Day. A defender of orthodoxy against heretics, a glorious Pope (confessedly, I knew practically nothing of him until I read this small piece in the Missal). His Mass is Common, except for a Proper Collect, which reads:
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut beati Zephyrini Martyris tui atque Pontificis, cuius gaudemus meritis, intruamur exemplis. Per Dominum. [Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God: that we may be instructed by the example of blessed Zephyrinus Thy Martyr and Pontiff, of whose merits we rejoice. Through the Lord.]
The translation of the Collect given in the Missal is rather dodgy actually, so I have corrected it.
Actually, glass was a luxury item in those days. It was rare and valuable, not common as dirt like it is today. So it kinda makes sense that at that time, glass should be used to make chalices.
ReplyDeleteDear Singulare Ingenium. A very kind gesture, getting a personal blog-mention. Most grateful. "His Hermeneuticalness" also wished one a Happy pseudonymical feast day. So, pleased !!! Obviously an excellent choice of name to write under !!! If nothing else, it elicits blog-mentions, greetings, and enhanced awareness of a saintly Pope and Martyr. Perhaps, more correctly, I should now write under the banner of "Zephyrinus II" ?
ReplyDeleteZephyrinus (!!?), many thanks for your comment. Naturally, it was a nice idea to post about - I had nothing else to say of interest on that day. One thing I forgot to post about was the Feast of St Louis, King and Confessor - the man who built the grandest chapel in Christendom (the Sainte Chappelle). It was his feast the other day...
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