Lent: March 20th
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
Other Commemorations: St. John Nepomucene, Priest and Martyr (RM)
MASS READINGS
March 20, 2019 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Keep your family, O Lord, schooled always in good works, and so comfort them with your protection here as to lead them graciously to gifts on high. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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The theme of life and light has colored the Liturgy of this week. Before leading the catechumens into the Mystery of Christ's Passion and Death, the Church presents Christ to them once more as the Light of the world who has power to open man's eyes to his Light. He will veil it for a while during his Passion but it will burst forth in full splendor again on Easter morning.
Historically today is the feast of St. Photina, the Samaritan woman at the well.
St. John Nepomucene (Nepomuk)
Born at Nepomuk, Bohemia, 1340; died in Prague, March 20, 1393; canonized in 1729. Saint John used the name of his native town for his surname instead of his family name of Woelflein or Welflin. He studied at the University of Prague, was ordained, and became a canon. In time, he became vicar general of Archbishop John of Genzenstein at Prague and according to tradition incurred the enmity of dissolute King Wenceslaus IV when he refused to reveal what Queen Sophie, Wenceslaus’ second wife, had told him in confession. Of a retiring disposition, Father John repeatedly refused bishoprics which were offered to him.
In 1393 (or 1383 according to some), he became involved in a dispute between Wenceslaus and the archbishop when the king sought to convert a Benedictine abbey into a cathedral for a new diocese he proposed to create for a favorite when the aged abbot died. The archbishop and John thwarted him by approving the election of a new abbot immediately on the death of the old abbot. At a meeting with John and other clerics, Wenceslaus flew into a rage, tortured them so that John was seriously injured, and then had him murdered and thrown into the Moldau River at Prague (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney)
Saint John is portrayed in art as an Augustinian canon with a fur almuce and a bridge near him. He may hold his finger to his lips and have seven stars around his head, or wear a padlock on his lips (in Austria and Bohemia). John, patron of confessors and bridges, is venerated in Austria and Spain (Roeder).
—by Katherine Rabenstein, Saints of the Day
Patronage: against calumnies; against floods; against indiscretions; against slander; bridge builders; bridges; canons; confessors; for discretion; for good confession; mariners, sailors, boatmen, watermen; running water; silence; spiritual directors; Bohemia; Czech Republic; archdiocese of Prague, Czech Republic; Slovakia; Venice, Italy
Symbols and Representation: halo with five stars; cross; bridge; angel indicating silence by a finger over the lips; priest's biretta
Highlights and Things to Do:
- Read more about St. John Nepomucene:
- Read about the location of Saint John of Nepomuk's Martyrdom.
- The Statue of St. John of Nepomuk on Charles Bridge in Prague.
- See Christian Iconnography for depictions of St. John.
- Learn more about Prague and the Czech Republic and St. Vitus Cathedral, supposedly started by St. Wenceslas in the 10th century as a small chapel to house relics of St. Vitus and were in the 14th century St. John Nepomucene was buried after being executed for refusing to violate the seal of the confessional.
- Read about the Infant Jesus of Prague and pray the chaplet.
- Bake a loaf of bread for dinner and serve Pilsner beer in honor of St. Wenceslas. See also Catholic Cuisine for other ideas.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Station with San Marcello al Corso (St. Marcellus at the Corso):
The Station today is at the church of St. Marcellus at the Corso. Legend claims that Pope St. Marcellus (308-309) was sentenced by Emperor Maxentius to look after the horses at the station of the Imperial mail on the Via Lata, where the Via del Corso now lies. He was freed by the people, and hidden in the house of the Roman lady Lucina (see also San Lorenzo in Lucina). He was rearrested, and imprisoned in the stables.
For more on San Marcello al Corso, see:
For further information on the Station Churches, see The Stational Church.
