A Beautiful Shrine for Our Lady's Birthday

Last Sunday, 8th September, was celebrated the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.  In our oratory in our Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery, New Zealand, a beautiful shrine was built at Our Lady's altar to commemorate Her birthday.  We Thank Abi Wiseman for taking these lovely photographs.

First Communion

Once a month, on the third Friday, one of the priests of our Congregation travels to Timaru, New Zealand, which is in the south of Christchurch diocese.  There he celebrates Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the altar of St. Joseph.

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 This month Fr Yousef Marie, F.SS.R. made the journey of approximately 100 miles.  Father had the joy of administering First Holy Communion to a young man, Ethan Marshall.

 Ethan kneeling in anticipation...

...of that great moment when the King of kings, and Lord of lords deigns to make His Infinite Self Ethan's food!

 May Our Blessed Lady obtain for him the grace of perseverance in grace until the end.

St Joseph, pray for him!

The Feast of the Assumption — Christchurch New Zealand

Assumpta est Maria in Cælum!

The feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother, Mary, as celebrated by our confreres in Our Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery, Christchurch New Zealand.

The priests of our Congregation provide Holy Mass in several Churches in Christchurch including our own Monastery oratory.  

 At St Teresa of Lisieux church in Riccarton, the altar is prepared for the celebration of Mass.

For the edification of the faithful, a beautiful shrine in honour of our Queen assumed into heaven has been erected in front of the sanctuary.

Before Holy Mass in the oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery.  Here also a shrine was erected to honour Our Lady, Mary.

Fr Magdala Maria, F.SS.R. celebrated the sung Mass.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Deo Gratias et Mariæ!

Come to Reign over us!

Today is the Feast of the Queenship of Our Blessed Lady

- before that it was the Feast of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces - 

and the Processional Copy of Our Lady of Christchurch

 was enthroned before the holy altar in 

St Teresa's Church, Riccarton, Christchurch

 during the traditional sung Holy Mass. 

 

 Afterwards roses

 (which one can see arranged before Our Lady)

 were blessed and distributed in honour of

 Our Blessed Lady's Queenship

 of this City and the Universe.

 Providentially a faithful soul

 had also brought a single snapdragon flower to Mass

 - it is winter in Christchurch

 and the flowers are not common now - 

recalling that the medieval name for this flower was

 "Our Lady's Slipper".

 Most appropriately for today

 she showed us how they as children

 had been taught to open the flower

 and behold inside "Our Lady's Sceptre". 

May her sweet reign never cease!

Maryfest and Grand Procession in Honour of Our Lady of Christchurch

 
Christchurch Knights of the Southern Cross act as 

Our Lady's Sediarii
- taking their place at the front of the bier
carrying our replica of the statue of
Our Lady of Christchurch.

This Sunday our confreres in Christchurch, New Zealand,
participated in the annual Procession,
Consecration of the City and Diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
and Pontifical Benediction
which they had been asked to organise by the local ordinary,
His Lordship the Most Reverend Barry Jones, D.D.,
Bishop of Christchurch.

For the last few weeks we have been planning and advertising
this wonderful event throughout the Diocese,
primarily using this poster -
translated for other local communities into
Polish, Korean, Tagalog, Arabic and Greek.

Thanks be to God and Our Lady,
St Mary's pro-Cathedral was filled to capacity
as Bishop Jones, accompanied by
Bishop Emeritus Basil Meeking
with the Administrator of the pro-Cathedral, Fr Friel,
as well as more than a dozen priests
led around 500 faithful from the Diocese
in an Act of Homage
to our
Heavenly Queen.

Many of the faithful had made banners in the last weeks
and these were evident in the lateral isle on the Gospel side.
Representatives of the Legion of Mary,
the Catholic Women's League,
the Knights of the Southern Cross,
as well the Keralite, Filipino, Korean,
Polish, Vietnamese,
Maori, Coptic, Ethiopian and Samoan communities,
members of the Marist, the Marist Brothers,
the Community of St John
the Marist Sisters
the Sisters of Nazareth and of the Beatitudes
many schools and parishes
joined in with the Bishop
the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
and of course our own traditional Catholics who had come from
all over South Island to be there.

The City of Christchurch Highland Pipe Band accompanied us
as we processed around the pro-Cathedral
and along Manchester Street.

The beautiful replica of Our Lady of Christchurch
which we carried in the procession.
The Queen of this City
crushes the old serpent
and extends her benign reign
over New Zealand!

At the end of the procession as the trumpet rang out
Our Lady of Christchurch
was crowned before His Lordship the Bishop
by little Esther
who had received Our Lord for the
first time that morning
in Our Mother of Perpetual Succour Oratory.

What a great grace to be able to see
the City and Diocese Consecrated again to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

Our very great thanks to all those who helped
in many and varied ways
to make the day most memorable
no less for its bright sunshine on a day
predicted to be overcast and awaiting snow!

To read more about the protecting image
of Our Lady of Christchurch
and to see more images please visit
Our Lady of Christchurch Facebook page.

The splendid photographs
for this blog were provided
by
Abi Wiseman Photography.

Maundy Thursday. Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus...

The Mass of Maundy Thursday

Christchurch, New Zealand.

 Epistle: 

Fratres, convenientibus vobis in unum...

Brethren, when you come together therefore into one place...

 Mandatum novum do vobis...

A new commandment I give unto you...

 ...alter alterius lavare pedes...

...to wash one another's feet...

 Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est...

Where are charity and love, God is there...

Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum...

Let us fear and love the living God... 

Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

And let us love one another with sincere hearts.

 ... et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.

..and may Christ, our God, be in the midst of us.

Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

O Lord hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

Ubi est refectio mea

Christchurch, New Zealand

Holy Thursday

Ubi est refectio mea

Say to the master of the house:

The Master saith:

Where is My refectory where I may eat the Pasch

with my disciples.

Et invererunt...

And they found as He had told them:

and they prepared the pasch.

The example of religious life.

Christchurch, New Zealand. 

The Sacred Triduum this year is taking place

in the small chapel of a University Hall of residence.

It is a difficult location.

This causes us to pull out all stops to try to make it a success.

The Monastery Garage

Preparations for the Sacred Triduum. 

The Brothers are renovating an old altar

which they will transport by trailer to the little chapel 

tomorrow morning, Holy Thursday. 

Brother Clemens painting the old altar.

 There are also matching altar rails thanks to white paint.

 Brother has prepared the mensa or altar-top 

and is about to lower the altar stone into its place. 

 Brother Nicodemus Mary is painting with gold obtained

for him by our friend, 

the local artist and statue repairer, 

Mr. Damian Walker. 

 Deacon Brother Magdala Maria is 

directing Brother Xavier Maria who is inside the altar

lining up the new wooden support.

One of the great consolations of the religious life

is to see Brethren who pray together and

also work together in great peace and mutual co-operation;

"just getting the job done"

working to late at night

to do something worthwhile for Our Lord and for souls.

May God bless their work

and the Holy Triduum.

Palm Sunday in Christchurch, New Zealand

Today, 

Palm Sunday,

we officially began our apostolate in

the Diocese of  Christchurch, New Zealand.

Palm Sunday

Church of St Therese

Riccarton, Christchurch.

click on photos to see them in larger format! :)

The Blessing of Palms in front of the church. 

Hosanna filio David.

Hosanna to the Son of David. 

Hosanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest. 

 Procession with Palms.

 Brother Clemens strikes the Church doors, 

the gates of the city of Jerusalem,

that they be opened to receive the King of Glory.

 Attollite, portae, capita vestra,

et attollite vos, fores antiquae,*

ut ingrediatur Rex gloriae!

Lift up O gates, your lintels,

and be ye lifted up, O ancient double doors:

and the King of Glory shall enter in! 

Ingrediente Domino in sanctam civitatem,

Hebraeorum pueri 

resurrectionem Vitae pronuntiantes,*

cum ramis palmarum:

"Hosanna in excelsis."

 As our Lord entered the holy city,

the Hebrew children,

heralding the resurrection of Life,

with palm branches cried out:

"Hosanna in the highest!" 

Jesus autem iterum clamans voce magna,

emisit spiritum.

And Jesus again crying with a loud voice,

yielded up the spirit.

At the hour of departure

This morning in Orkney

the votive Mass for the Sick Near to Death

was offered for

Mr. Duncan Simon

of

Christchurch, New Zealand.

Mr. Duncan Simon serving the first Holy Mass

offered in the Christchurch oratory, July 2007.



Collect.

Omnipotens et misericors Deus...

Almighty and merciful God,

Who hast conferred upon mankind

both the remedies of salvation

and the gifts of life everlasting:

look mercifully upon Thy servant

who is afflicted with sickness of the body,

and refresh the soul which Thou hast created,

so that at the hour of departure,

it may be found worthy to be taken home to Thee,

its Maker,

free from all stain of sin,

by the hands of holy Angels.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ ...

Postcommunion.

Quaesumus clementiam tuam...

We beseech Thy clemency, O almighty God,

that by the virtue of this Sacrament

Thou wouldst vouchsafe

to strengthen Thy servant with Thy grace:

so that at the hour of his death

the enemy may not prevail against him,

but he may deserve to pass to life

accompanied by Thine Angels.

As Mass for the Sick Near Death,

the Litany of St Joseph

and

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament closed

at

8.30 a.m. here in Scotland,

Mr. Simon entered his eternity;

it was

7.30 p.m. in Christchurch.



Requiem aeternam dona ei Domine,

et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace.



Eternal rest grant to him O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace.

Homecoming

It was slightly touch-and go with the weather, but yesterday evening Br. Paul Mary, F.SS.R. and Br. Xavier Maria, F.SS.R. arrived home to Papa Stronsay from Christchurch New Zealand. They are staying on Papa Stronsay for two months.

The brothers were picked-up from Glasgow airport and are seen here driving off the Stronsay ferry.

Welcome home!

A joyous homecoming after a long journey from the other side of the world!

On the way home, they collected the next issue of Catholic. Here it's being loaded onto the boat.

Br. Xavier Maria with Papa Stronsay in the background.

And Br. Paul Mary

First step back onto Papa Stronsay ground.

We flew the New Zealand flag for their return!