November 2017

November is the Month the Church
Dedicates to the Holy Souls in Purgatory

“Alas! how feeble is our faith! If a domestic animal, a little dog, falls into the fire, do you delay to draw it out? And see, your parents, benefactors, persons most dear to you, writhe in the flames of Purgatory, and you do not consider it your urgent duty to relieve them; you delay, you allow long days of suffering to pass for those poor souls, without making an effort to perform those good works which will release them from their pains.”
(Fr. Schouppe, from his book: Purgatory, pp. 238-239, 1893 Imprimatur)

Click here, for more approved reading material on the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and to increase your devotion towards them.

THE COUNCIL OF TRENT - CONCERNING PURGATORY
FIRST DECREE
Began on the third, and terminated on the fourth, day of December, MDLXIII., being the ninth and last under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV.

Whereas the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught, in sacred councils, and very recently in this oecumenical Synod, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; the holy Synod enjoins on bishops that they diligently endeavour that the sound doctrine concerning Purgatory, transmitted by the holy Fathers and sacred councils, be believed, maintained, taught, and every where proclaimed by the faithful of Christ. But let the more difficult and subtle questions, and which tend not to edification, and from which for the most part there is no increase of piety, be excluded from popular discourses before the uneducated multitude. In like manner, such things as are uncertain, or which labour under an appearance of error, let them not allow to be made public and treated of. While those things which tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or which savour of filthy lucre, let them prohibit as scandals and stumbling-blocks of the faithful. But let the bishops take care, that the suffrages of the faithful who are living, to wit the sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which have been wont to be performed by the faithful for the other faithful departed, be piously and devoutly performed, in accordance with the institutes of the church; and that whatsoever is due on their behalf, from the endowments of testators, or in other way, be discharged, not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately, by the priests and ministers of the church, and others who are bound to render this (service).

Taken from: www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch25.htm

Below listed are the feasts falling in November 2017:

November 1: All Saints, Double of the I Class.

November 2: Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, Double.

November 3: FIRST FRIDAY/Feria

November 4: FIRST SATURDAY/St. Charles (of Borromeo) Bishop and Confessor, Double; Commemoration of Ss. Vitalis and Agricola Martyrs.

November 5: XXII Sunday after Pentecost, Double.

November 6: Feria

November 7: Feria

November 8: Commemoration of the Holy Four Crowned Martyrs.

November 9: Dedication of the Archbasilica of the most Holy Saviour, Double of the II Class; Commemoration of St. Theodore Martyr.

November 10: St. Andrew Avellino Confessor, Double; Commemoration of Ss. Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha Martyrs.

November 11: St. Martin Bishop and Confessor, Double; Commemoration of St. Mennas Martyr.

November 12: XXIII Sunday after Pentecost, Double; Commemoration of St. Martin I Pope and Martyr.

November 13: St. Didacus Confessor, Simple.

November 14: St. Josaphat Bishop and Martyr, Double.

November 15: St. Albert the Great Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, Double.

November 16: St. Gertrude Virgin, Double.

November 17: St. Gregory Thaumaturgus Bishop and Confessor, Simple.

November 18: Dedication of the Basilicas of Ss. Peter and Paul, Greater Double.

November 19: XXIV Sunday after Pentecost, Double; Commemoration of St. Elisabeth (of Hungary) Widow; Commemoration of St. Pontianus Pope and Martyr.

November 20: St. Felix of Valois Confessor, Double.

November 21: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Greater Double.

November 22: St. Cecilia Virgin and Martyr, Double.

November 23: St. Clement I Pope and Martyr, Double; Commemoration of St. Felicitas Martyr.

November 24: St. John of the Cross Confessor and Doctor of the Church, Double; Commemoration St. Chrysogonus Martyr.

November 25: St. Catherine (of Alexandria), Virgin and Martyr, Double.

November 26: XXV (Last) Sunday after Pentecost, Double; Commemoration of St. Sylvester Abbot; Commemoration of St. Peter of Alexandria Bishop and Martyr.

November 27: Feria

November 28: Feria

November 29: Commemoration of St. Saturninus, Martyr.

November 30: St. Andrew Apostle, Double of the II Class.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.