August 8 Feast of Saint Dominic, Priest and Friar, 1221

August 8 Feast of Saint Dominic,  Priest and Friar, 1221

Dominic gave away his money and sold his clothes, furniture and even precious manuscripts to feed the hungry. Dominic reportedly told his astonished fellow students, "Would you have me study off these dead skins, when men are dying of hunger?" In 1194, around age twenty-five, Dominic joined the Canons Regular in the canonry of Osma, following the rule of Saint Benedict.

In 1215, Dominic established himself, with six followers, in a house in Toulouse. Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization to address the spiritual needs of the growing cities of the era, one that would combine dedication and systematic education, with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy. He subjected himself and his companions to the monastic rules of prayer and penance. He was granted written authority in December 1216 and January 1217 by the new pope, Honorius III for an order to be named "The Order of Preachers" ("Ordo Praedicatorum", or "O.P.," popularly known as the Dominican Order). Dominic died at the age of fifty-one "exhausted with the austerities and labours of his career".

The spread of the Rosary, a Marian devotion, is attributed to the preaching of St. Dominic. The Rosary has for centuries been at the heart of the Dominican Order. Pope Pius XI stated, "The Rosary of Mary is the principle and foundation on which the very Order of Saint Dominic rests for making perfect the life of its members and obtaining the salvation of others."

Collect:

O God of the prophets, you opened the eyes of your servant Dominic to perceive a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, and moved him, and those he drew about him, to satisfy that hunger with sound preaching and fervent devotion: Make your church, dear Lord, in this and every age, attentive to the hungers of the world, and quick to respond in love to those who are perishing; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Dominic, portrayed in the Perugia Altarpiece by Fra Angelico.

St Dominic receives the Rosary from the Virgin Mary

(Carlow Cathedral, stained glass by Franz Mayer)

Music: Salve Regina - Dominican Chant

Salve Regina - Dominican Chant

August 7 Feast of John Mason Neale, Priest

John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer. In 1854 Neale co-founded the Society of Saint Margaret, an order of women in the Church of England dedicated to nursing the sick.He was also the principal founder of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, a religious organization founded as the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union in 1864. A result of this organisation was the Hymns of the Eastern Church, edited by John Mason Neale and published in 1865.
Neale translated the Eastern liturgies into English, and wrote a mystical and devotional commentary on the Psalms. However, he is best known as a hymn writer and, especially, translator, having enriched English hymnody with many ancient and mediaeval hymns translated from Latin and Greek. More than anyone else, he made English-speaking congregations aware of the centuries-old tradition of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Syrian hymns. The 1875 edition of the Hymns Ancient and Modern contains 58 of his translated hymns; The English Hymnal (1906) contains 63 of his translated hymns and six original hymns by Neale.

Collect:

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant John Mason Neale, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Ikon of Fr. J. M. Neale, Trinity Episocpal Church, Cliffside Park New Jersey

Fr. Neale and the Society of Saint Margaret (E.G. Cundall, 1855)

Music: All Glory, Laud and Honor (trans. J. M. Neale)

https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=pHN8UAk6Yow

Sheet Music

https://songsandhymns.org/hymns/sheetmusic/all-glory-laud-and-honor