1. The knights of Our Lady,
devoted to the service of the Church and Christendom, will always celebrate
with fervour the great solemn feasts of the Liturgical Year: Christmas and
Epiphany, Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost. But since these are common to
all Christians, twelve particular feasts will also be observed by the brothers.
One solemn feast: The
Assumption of the B.V.M., Mother of God and Queen of the Universe, and Patron
of Chartres Cathedral. (August 15th).
Five major feasts:
(2) Christ the King (last Sunday of the year).(3) The Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Friday after the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost).
(4) The Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. (December 8th).
(5) Saint Michael the Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Host, and Grand Master of the Order (September 29th).
(6) The Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Our Lord, and Patron of Chivalry (June 24th).
Six minor feasts:
(7) Saint Joseph, Our Lady’s husband and Patron of the
Universal Church (May 1st).(8) Saint George, Patron of Chivalry and of England (April 23rd).
(9) Saint Benedict, Patriarch of monks and Patron of Europe (July 11th).
(10) Saint
(11) Saint Louis-
(12) Saint Joan of Arc, sent by God to restore the kingdom of France (May 30th).
Furthermore, all the feasts of
Our Lady mentioned in the Church’s calendar will be observed with honour by the
brothers. Each priory, and each command, may in addition keep the feasts of
certain local saints.
2. At the solemn feast and the
five major feasts, the brothers shall hear Mass and receive Holy Communion, if
possible in common and from the hands of their Chaplain.
On minor feast days they
should try to do the same, but without any obligation.
These feast days will, if
possible, be chosen for dubbings, professions, receptions, chapters, and in
general for all meetings and common activities of the Order.
For all ceremonies of the
Order the brothers will wear the habit of the Order, with the Knights wearing
their white cloaks. All will care for and respect their habits, following the
precept of the Rule of the Templars: Each
brother is bound to wear his mantle with honour. The habit of the Order,
which must always keep its noble simplicity, is the sign of consecration to Our
Lady for the service of chivalry.[1]
(108)
3. The brothers should try to
meditate on the teaching contained in each of these festivals, in order to put
them into practice in their own lives and in the Life of the Order.
CHAPTER IX - HOLY MASS
1. Daily attendance at the Holy
Sacrifice was a practice widespread among the early knights, both secular and
regular: it is an ideal towards which each one should incline in his own time
with all his strength. The further one advances in the spiritual life, the more
one feels the need to drink from the divine spring from which flows every
blessing for the Church and for the world.
2. The members of the Order are
however only strictly bound to attend Mass once a week apart from Sunday, on
the day appointed by their commander. He will arrange a timetable of the Opus Dei in such a way that each day at
least one of his brethren will officially represent his community at the Altar
of the King of Angels.
3. Those days when they do not
attend Mass, the brothers should do everything possible to visit the Blessed
Sacrament.
4. The brothers may also
participate in the sacrifice of Christ, really and fruitfully, by receiving
Holy Communion daily[2]
(109); in this way they will not only strengthen their personal union with
Christ, but also effectively contribute to the building up of His Mystical
Body, in other words they will make the Church of God more unified, more holy,
stronger and more beautiful until His glorious coming again.
5. On Sundays and great festivals, especially Easter and
Christmas, the brethren should choose for preference to attend sung services,
and above all Latin and Gregorian services, not because of their aesthetic
beauty, but because of their incomparable supernatural wealth.[3]
(110)
6. All should understand,
therefore, the immense value of Holy Mass, and try to make it, as did the early
Christians and first knights, the focal point of each day and of their lives.
CHAPTER X - THE HOURS OF OUR
LADY
The knights of the Order of
Our Lady must live deeply within the life of the Church through the liturgy,
the Christian’s prayer par excellence, more perfect than all other forms of
prayer, because it is the very voice of the Spouse of Christ.[4]
(111)
2. Apart from the Mass, the
Office of Our Lady is their main offering of praise and thanksgiving to the
Lord, and they will render it faithfully, following the precept of the
Patriarch of Western monks: Prefer
nothing to the Work of God[5]. (112)
3. Each knight is therefore
strictly bound to recite the whole Office during the course of the week, one
Hour each day, when he prays in the name of all his brethren who are thus
united with him. The commander will draw up a timetable giving each member his
duties. The Office should be recited in its entirety every day by the joint
efforts of the local group.
4. Yet the brothers should not
be satisfied by the minimum demanded by the Rule. They will aim gradually at
reciting all the Hours, and so draw upon themselves and the Order the blessings
of Our Lady.
5. The brothers should try so
far as possible to say their Office at the correct time, linking the Hours to
the chief events of the day: Matins in the early morning or the evening before,
Lauds or Prime at the beginning of the day, preferably before Mass; Terce
around 10 a .m.;
Sext before the midday meal; None after that meal; Vespers before supper;
Compline before going to bed. Thus the Hours of Our Lady will begin the
knight’s day, consecrate the main moments in the course of it, and will
conclude it; for Our Lady was the
originator of our Order; for her and for her honour shall be, please God, the
object of our lives and the end of our Order, when this is willed by God.[6] (113)
6. When two or more
brothers find themselves together at the time prescribed for an Hour, they may
recite it together if this is convenient. If it happens to be a feast day of
the Order it would be good to sing it. Anyone who has attended any Hour of the
Canonical Office will not be obliged to say the corresponding hour of the
Office of the Blessed Virgin.
Similarly if anyone prefers to
say the Roman or the Monastic Breviary, he may do so, conforming to the
timetable of the Opus Dei.
7. The brethren belonging to
one of the Oriental Rites will recite their own Office in honour of the holy
Mother of God; in the Byzantine rite the Acathist hymn will not be omitted.
CHAPTER XI - PRAYER
1. If the whole life of a Knight
of Our Lady should consist of a quiet adherence of the soul to God, to seek him
in all things and accomplish his holy will, it is nonetheless desirable to
reserve a few moments of the day for mental prayer.
2. The brethren are not bound by any particular method,
but their prayer, like that of Our Lady, will spring spontaneously from their
hearts nourished by Holy Scripture and the Liturgy.
3. They will make it short, so as to be without distraction[7] (114),
unless the grace of divine inspiration move
them to prolong it[8]
(115) for one has, so to speak, to
wrench it quickly away from the jaws of the enemy while it is still fervent[9] (116).
And they will bear in mind that they shall not be heard for the multitude of
their words but for the purity of their hearts and for their tears of
compunction.[10]
(117)
4. They will also bear in mind this principle: he who only prays when he is kneeling prays
little; but he who while on his knees gives himself up to all kinds of
distraction, prays not at all[11] (118)
5. Furthermore, apart from the time consecrated to prayer,
they will try when their minds are free - either in the course of manual work,
or when coming and going - to meditate quietly in their hearts on the Word of
God and the Mysteries of the Faith, and to spread their day with arrow prayers,
such as the Jesus prayer and the invocation 0
Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you. Thereby
they will have within themselves the same
mind as Jews Christ[12] (119)
and will accomplish the precept of the Apostle: Pray without ceasing.[13] (120)
6. The brethren shall make a retreat of several days each
year in a monastery, in order to share in the graces which radiate from these
beneficent centres of prayer. They will learn thus, in the silence and recollection
of monastic solitude, to understand their vocation better and to answer it with
growing generosity.
CHAPTER XII - SPIRITUAL
READING
1. Let prayer lead
to spiritual reading, and spiritual reading to prayer[14] (121)
so that the dialogue between the soul and God be never interrupted.
Prayer is talking to the Lord;
reading Scripture is listening to Him.
In the Word of God, the
brothers will be seeking, therefore, not just a simple way of reaching prayer,
but the very foundation of their spiritual lives, the principle of adoration in
spirit and in truth.
2. One cannot hope to
understand holy writing without that purity of heart which only a blameless
life can give: for Scripture is
understood by each one differently: to the worldly it has a worldly meaning, to
the spiritual it has a divine meaning.[15] (122)
Furthermore, it is necessary
to read the Word of God with the Spirit of the Church, which alone - since she
is the Spouse of Christ - understands perfectly and wholly the meaning. To this
end the commentaries of the Fathers and other catholic authors, the
explanations inserted in the Divine Office, and also works of scientific
exegesis approved by the Church may be used to advantage.[16]
(123) Theological and spiritual works and the lives of saints, will be like
illustrations of the Sacred Text.
Before any reading we must
pray the Author of the Scriptures to reveal to us the deep meaning hidden in the words.[17] (124)
3. Thus prepared, the brethren
will open the Holy Bible with great respect and with a lively desire to commune
with Divine Wisdom. They will read in company with Our Lady, with her
simplicity, her humility and her charity. They will raise up in their hearts
that mystical ladder which Jacob saw at Bethel, and which linked heaven and
earth.[18]
(125)
(a) The first rung is the attentive and recollected reading of
the sacred text.
(b) The second rung is the meditation thereof, by which we
apply our minds and hearts to penetrate to the full and literal meaning.(c) At the third rung, the soul tastes the sweetness of the Word, and overflows with praise and thanksgiving, with supplication and repentance: this is the stage of prayer.
(d) The fourth rung is contemplation which enables us to enjoy the infinite variety of God’s wisdom by means of a simple look.
The Angels who ascend and
descend this ladder represent the states of the soul which passes continually
from one degree to another under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Whoever lies at the foot of
this ladder really lives at Bethel, in the House of God, and truly enjoys the
friendship of God and the company of the Angels.
4. Following the wishes of the
Sovereign Pontiffs and the Second Vatican Council[19]
(126), they will frequently and abundantly be nourished by the Word of God; as
much as possible they should follow the order of readings established by the
Church for the different periods of the Liturgical year.
They will allow themselves to
become little by little transformed by this Word which is something alive and active; it cuts like any double-edged sword but
more finely,[20]
(127) and whose virtue appears
astonishing and ineffable when divine love penetrates the soul of the reader.[21] (128)
5. As for this Rule, the
brethren shall read a few pages each week, and try to capture the spirit while
keeping the letter. For the man who can
be trusted in little things can be trusted in great.[22] (129)
CHAPTER XIII - THE ROSARY, THE
ANGELIC CROWN AND THE ANGELUS
1. The brothers shall say at least one Rosary each week in
all circumstances and wherever they happen to be. They shall meditate upon the
mysteries and listen to Our Lady.
Saying the Rosary is really
keeping the Holy Mother of God company and sharing in the triumph of the one
who is called victorious in all God’s
battles,[23]
(130) and who by this same Rosary has several times given her children
victory over the infidel.[24]
(131)
2. Every Tuesday and on the
Feasts of the Holy Angels, they are recommended to say the angelic crown of
the chapelet of Saint Michael. It is indeed particularly the duty of Knights of
Our Lady to live habitually in the presence of God’s Angels, and have ceaseless
recourse to them in their prayer and their combat, imploring their help for the
conversion of nations and of other human communities.
These sublime beings, who sang
in chorus at the creation of the visible world[25]
(132), the highest point of beauty treated after Jesus and Mary, Thrones of
divinity[26]
(133) and contemplators of his Face[27]
(134); Princes and governors of nations[28]
(135), did not hesitate to cast their crowns at the feet of Christ the King[29]
(136), and have become the servants of our salvation and our companions in
service out of love For Him and his Holy Mother[30].
(137) Just as they served Christ during His earthly life[31](138),
so they keep watch over the faithful, joining in their worship[32]
(l39), enlightening their minds in prayer[33]
(140), and frustrating the wiles of the evil one[34]
(141). Thus in the midst of the world they prepare for the coming of Our Lord
whom they will escort at his Second Coming.[35]
(142)
The chapelet of St. Michael,
by invoking the three Archangels and blessed hierarchies, and by praying to the
Queen of Angels, will be a powerful help to the brothers to live in spirit in
the heavenly City, and will put on them the armour of light[36]
(143) that they may overcome temptation and drive out the evil one.
3. As for the Angelus, it
definitely belongs to the traditions of chivalry; this gracious salutation is
particularly recommended to the Knights of Our Lady.
[1] 108. Cf. Vat. 11, Perfectae caritatis, 17
[2] 109. Decree of St. Pius X, 20-12-05 and Vat.
II Liturgy, 55
[4] 111. Ibid 83
[5] 112. Rule of St. Benedict, c.19
[7] 114. Cassian, “Conferences”, IX, 36
[8] 115. Rule of St. Benedict, c.20
[9] 116. Cassian, “Institutions”, II, 10
[10] 117. Rule of St. Benedict, c.20 and cf. Mt. 6, 7
[11] 118. Cassian, “Conferences”, X, 14
[12] 119. Phil. 2, 5
[13] 120. 1 Thes. 5, 17 and cf. Luke 18, 1
[14] 121. St.
Jerome
[15] 122. Cassian, “Conferences”, XIV
[17] 124. St. Bernard
[18] 125. Gen. 28, 10-22
[19] 126. “Divino afflante” 13, 14, 44 and Rev. div.,
25
[20] 127. Hebr. 4, 12
[21] 128. Smaragde “Diademe des moines”, ch. 3
[22] 129. Luke 16, 10
[23] 130. Pius XII
[24] 131. Notably at Lepanto in 1571
[25] 132. Job 38, 7
[26] 133. Cf. II Kings 19, 15; Ps.80, 2: 99, 1; Is.
37, 16: Col.
[27] 134. Cf. Tobias 12, 15; Mt. 18, 10
[28] 135. Cf. Daniel
10, 13, 20-21; Deut. 32, 8
[29] 136. Rev. 4, 10
[30] 137. Rev. 19, l0 and 22, 9
[31] 138. Mt. 4, 11 and Luke 22, 43
[32] 139. Cf. Eric Peterson “Book of Angels”
[33] 140. Common doctrine of the Fathers, notably
Clement
[34] 141. Liturgy: Prayers of exorcism
[35] 142. Mt. 16, 27 and parallel texts
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