# Matins Nocturn 2-3 readings for Our Lady of the Snows (Dedication of # St. Mary Major), Aug 5 — Duplex Majus. `Sancti/08-05.txt`'s untagged # [Rank] block. SanctiM/08-05.txt inherits the whole day (`@Sancti/08-05`) # with no Nocturn 2/3 override (just reslicing Lectio4-6 into a 12-lesson # Monastic structure via `@Sancti/08-05:LectioN` cross-references), so # this feast's own content is sourced from the Tridentine track directly. # web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/08-05.txt, English/Sancti/08-05.txt. # # Nocturn 2: Lectio4-6 combined into one reading — the miraculous- # snowfall founding legend of the basilica of St. Mary Major, one # continuous narrative, no genuine source break. (The source's own # `[Lectio94]` is a shorter, alternate simplex-rank retelling of the # same story, not additional content — not authored separately.) # Nocturn 3: her own file has no Lectio7-9 at all (her `[Rule]` is # `ex C11`), so — like the day's collect/antiphon — this defers to the # Common of Feasts of the BVM's own Nocturn 3 (Commune/C11.txt): a bare # Gospel incipit (Luke 11:27-28, "Et réliqua") followed by the Venerable # Bede's homily. Per the established convention of not transcribing # bare incipits, only the homily was originally authored here (not # marked isGospel). # Same shared C11 content also used by # presentation-of-the-bvm.yml's own Nocturn 3 — the Matins mechanism has # no cross-id lookup for nocturn-readings the way collect/antiphon do # via `propers`, so it's duplicated rather than referenced. # # Update (2026-09-05): the Gospel pericope itself is now authored too # (isGospel: true, immediately before Bede's homily). Though Commune/ # C11.txt's own Nocturn 3 Lectio7 cuts it off at "Et réliqua", the full # two-verse pericope (Luke 11:27-28) is short enough that C11.txt's own # Missa [Evangelium] (same file) gives it complete — sourced from there, # not guessed at or reconstructed from the homily's mid-paragraph # quotations alone. id: our-lady-of-the-snows readings: - nocturn: 2 isGospel: false text: la: >- Liberio summo Pontifice, Joánnes patricius Romanus et uxor pari nobilitate, cum liberos non suscepíssent, quos bonórum herédes relínquerent, suam hereditátem sanctíssimæ Virgini Dei Matri vovérunt, ab ea summis precibus assidue peténtes, ut in quod pium opus eam pecúniam potíssimum erogari vellet aliquo modo significaret. Quorum preces et vota, ex animo facta, beáta Virgo Maria, benígne áudiens, miraculo comprobávit. Nonis ígitur Augusti, quo témpore in Urbi maximi calóres esse solent, noctu nix partem collis Exquilini contéxit. Qua nocte Dei Mater separatim Joánnem et conjugem in somnis admonuit ut quem locum nive conspersum vidérent, in eo ecclésiam ædificarent, quæ Maríæ vírginis nómine dedicarétur; se enim ita velle ab ipsis herédem institui. Quod Joánnes ad Libérium Pontificem détulit, qui idem per sómnium sibi contigisse affirmávit. Quare solemni sacerdotum et pópuli supplicatióne ad collem venit nive coopertum, et in eo locum ecclésiæ designávit, quæ Joánnis et uxoris pecúnia exstructa est, póstea a Xysto tertio restituta. Variis nomínibus primum est appellata, basilica Liberii, sancta Maria ad Præsepe; sed, cum multæ jam essent in Urbe ecclésiæ sub nómine sanctæ Maríæ Vírginis, ut quæ basilica novitate miraculi ac dignitate ceteris ejusdem nóminis basilicis præstaret, vocabuli étiam excelléntia significarétur, ecclésia sanctæ Maríæ majoris dicta est. Cujus dedicatiónis memória ex nive, quæ hac die mirabíliter cécidit, anniversaria celebritate cólitur. en: >- In the time of Pope Liberius, there lived at Rome a certain nobleman named John and a noble lady his wife, who had no children to whom to leave their substance. Then they vowed that they would make the most holy Virgin Mother of God their heiress, and earnestly besought her in some way to make known to them upon what godly work she would that the money should be spent. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously listened to their prayers and heart-felt earnestness, and by a miracle assured them of her will. On the 5th day of August, which is that time when the heat of summer waxeth greatest in Rome, a part of the Esquiline Hill was covered by night with snow. And on this same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them that on that spot, which in the morning they should see clad with snow, they should build a Church, to be dedicated in the name of the Virgin Mary, for that this was the way in which she chose that they should make her their heiress. John went and told it to Pope Liberius, who declared that he also had been visited by a like dream. Therefore he came in a solemn procession of Priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and traced upon that spot the plan of a Church which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was afterwards rebuilt by Sixtus III. At the beginning it was called by diverse names, sometimes the Liberian Basilica, sometimes the Church of St. Mary-at-the-Manger. Howbeit, since there are in Rome many Churches called after the Holy Virgin Mary, and this Church doth excel them all, both in honour, and because of the strange sign wherewith it was dedicated, it hath come to be called the Church of St. Mary, the Greater. The memory of the dedication thereof is kept every year by a Feast-day that taketh name from the wonderful fall of snow which on this day took place. status: { la: verified, en: verified } - nocturn: 3 isGospel: true citation: { la: "Luc 11:27-28", en: "Luke 11:27-28" } text: la: >- In illo témpore: Loquénte Jesu ad turbas, extóllens vocem quædam múlier de turba, dixit illi: Beátus venter, qui te portávit, et úbera, quæ suxísti. At ille dixit: Quinímmo beáti, qui áudiunt verbum Dei, et custódiunt illud. en: >- At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd lifted up her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nursed You." But He said, "Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." status: { la: verified, en: verified } - nocturn: 3 isGospel: false source: "The Venerable Bede, Commentary on Luke, Book IV, ch. 49 (on Luke 11:27-28)" text: la: >- Magnæ devotiónis et fídei hæc múlier osténditur, quæ, scribis et pharisǽis Dóminum tentántibus simul et blasphemántibus, tanta ejus incarnatiónem præ ómnibus sinceritáte cognóscit, tanta fidúcia confitétur, ut et præséntium prócerum calúmniam, et futurórum confúndat hæreticórum perfídiam. Nam, sicut tunc Judǽi, Sancti Spíritus ópera blasphemándo, verum consubstantialémque Patri Dei Fílium negábant; sic hærétici póstea, negándo Maríam semper Vírginem, Sancti Spíritus operánte virtúte, nascitúro cum humánis membris Unigénito Dei, carnis suæ matériam ministrásse, verum consubstantialémque matri Fílium hóminis fatéri non debére dixérunt. Si caro Verbi Dei secúndum carnem nascéntis a carne Vírginis matris pronuntiátur extránea, sine causa venter qui eam portásset, úbera quæ lactássent, beatificántur. Dicit autem Apóstolus: Quia misit Deus Fílium suum, factum ex mulíere, factum sub lege. Neque audiéndi sunt, qui legéndum putant: Natum ex mulíere, factum sub lege, sed Factum ex mulíere; quia concéptus ex útero virgináli, carnem non de níhilo, non aliúnde, sed matérna traxit ex carne. Alióquin nec vere Fílius hóminis dicerétur, qui oríginem non habéret ex hómine. Et nos ígitur, his contra Eutychen dictis, extollámus vocem cum Ecclésia cathólica, cujus hæc múlier typum gessit, extollámus et mentem de médio turbárum, dicamúsque Salvatóri: Beátus venter qui te portávit, et úbera quæ suxísti. Vere enim beáta parens, quæ, sicut quidam ait, Eníxa est puérpera Regem, qui cælum terrámque tenet per sǽcula. Quinímmo beáti qui áudiunt verbum Dei et custódiunt. Pulchre Salvátor attestatióni mulíeris ánnuit, non eam tantúmmodo quæ Verbum Dei corporáliter generáre merúerat, sed et omnes qui idem Verbum spiritáliter audítu fídei concípere, et boni óperis custódia vel in suo vel in proximórum corde párere et quasi álere studúerint, asséverans esse beátos; quia, et éadem Dei Génetrix, et inde quidem beáta quia Verbi incarnándi minístra facta est temporális, sed inde multo beátior quia ejúsdem semper amándi custos manébat ætérna. en: >- It is plain that this was a woman of great earnestness and faith. The Scribes and Pharisees were at once tempting and blaspheming the Lord, but this woman so clearly grasped His Incarnation, and so bravely confessed the same, that she confounded both the lies of the great men who were present, and the faithlessness of the heretics who were yet to come. Even as the Jews then, blaspheming the works of the Holy Ghost, denied the very Son of God Who is of one substance with the Father, so afterwards did the heretics, by denying that Mary always a Virgin did, under the operation of the Holy Ghost, supply flesh to the Only begotten One of God, when He was about being born in an human Body, even so, I say, did the heretics deny that the Son of Man should be called a true Son, Who is of one substance with His Mother. If we shall say that the Flesh, Wherewith the Son of God was born in the flesh, was something outside of the flesh of the Virgin His Mother, without reason should we bless the womb that bore Him, and the paps which He hath sucked. But the Apostle saith: "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law", and they are not to be listened to who read this passage: "Born of a woman, made under the law." He was made of a woman, for He was conceived in a virgin's womb, and took His Flesh, not from nothing, not from elsewhere, but from the flesh of His Mother. Otherwise, and if He had not been sprung of a woman, He could not with truth be called the Son of man. Let us therefore, denying the doctrine of Eutyches, lift up our voice, along with the Universal Church, whereof that woman was a figure, let us lift up our heart as well as our voice from the company, and say unto the Saviour: Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. Blessed Mother, of whom one hath said thou art His Mother, Who reigns over earth and over heaven for ever. Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. How nobly doth the Saviour say "Yea" to the woman's blessing, declaring also that not only is she blessed who was meet to give bodily birth to the Word of God, but that all they who spiritually conceive the same Word by the hearing of faith, and, by keeping it through good works, bring it forth and, as it were, carefully nurse it, in their own hearts, and in the hearts of their neighbours, are also blessed. Yea, and that the very Mother of God herself was blessed in being for a while the handmaid of the Word of God made Flesh, but that she was much more blessed in this, that through her love she keepeth Him for ever. status: { la: verified, en: verified }