[Rank]
S. Petri Nolasci Confessoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[Rule]
vide C5;mtv
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, Thou Who, as an example of Thy charity, divinely taught St. Peter to enrich Thy Church with new offspring, a family of religious devoted to the ransom of the faithful, grant by his intercession, that we may be released from the slavery of sin, and rejoice in lasting freedom in heaven.
$Qui vivis

[Lectio4]
Peter Nolasco was born of noble parents at Recaudun near Carcassonne in France ~(about the year 1189,) and is chiefly distinguished for his great love toward his neighbour. It was considered a foreshadowing of this virtue, that when he was a little child in his cradle, a swarm of bees settled on his right hand, and began to make an honey-comb there. He lost his parents while still young, and in consequence of his horror of the Albigensian heresy, with which France was then plagued, he sold his property there and emigrated to Spain. Here he first discharged a vow which he had made at the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of Monserrat, and afterwards went to Barcelona. Here he was so affected by the miserable state of the Christians who were in slavery to the Moors, that he expended his whole fortune in ransoming as many of them as possible, and used to say that he wished he could be sold himself to ransom more, or could himself change places with them.

[Lectio5]
It came to pass that God showed how agreeable to Him was the charitable zeal of Peter. One night when he was praying, and his mind was much exercised on the means of succouring the enslaved Christians, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him in a vision, and gave him to understand that it would be most pleasing to her Son and herself, if he would found in her honour an order of religious men, whose chief duty it should be to effect the redemption of Christian bondsmen out of the hand of the unbelievers. In conformity to this revelation, which had likewise on the same night been made to St. Raymond de Penafort and King James I. of Aragon, he founded the Religious Order of the Blessed Mary of Ransom, for the redemption of captives. The members of this order add a fourth vow to the three essential ones of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, namely, that they will be ready if need be to remain as hostages in 'the hand of the unbelievers for the liberation of others.

[Lectio6]
After he took the vow of virginity he remained with his purity quite unsullied all his life, and was at the same time a bright pattern of long-suffering, lowliness, temperance, and other virtues. God was pleased to adorn him with the gift of Prophecy, whereby he foretold things to come. Among others, he prophesied to King James that he would take the city of Valencia from the Moors, which he afterwards did. He was refreshed by frequent apparitions of his Guardian Angel and of the Virgin Mother of God. He had lived to a great age, when being quite worn out, and falling into a grievous sickness, he perceived that his end was at hand. He then received the holy Sacraments, and, gathering his brethren around him, exhorted them for the last time to show pity to slaves. After this he began to repeat with great emotion the ex. Psalm, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart, and when he had uttered the words He sent redemption unto His people, he resigned his soul to God. This happened at midnight between the 23rd and 24th of December, 1256. Alexander VII. ordered that his feast should be celebrated on the 31st of January.

[Commemoratio 1]
!Commemoration for S. Agnes Virgin and Martyr, second
Ant. The blessed Agnes stood in the midst of the fire * and stretched forth her hands unto the Lord, and prayed, saying O Thou Who Alone art Almighty! Who Alone art to be adored! Who Alone art to be worshipped! Who Alone art to be feared! I bless thee, and glorify thy Name for ever and ever!
_
V. In thy comeliness and thy beauty.
R. Go forward, fare prosperously, and reign.
_
$Oremus
O God, Who year by year dost gladden thy people by the solemn feast of thy blessed Virgin and Martyr Agnes, grant unto us, we beseech thee, not only devoutly to observe the same, but also to follow after the pattern of her godly conversation.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio93]
!Commemoratio for St. Agnes.
The night when the parents of the blessed Agnes were watching at her grave, she appeared to them in company with a band of virgins, and said to them Father and Mother, weep not for me as though I were dead; for now these virgins and I live together in Him Whose love was my whole life upon earth. Some years afterwards, Constance, the daughter of the Emperor Constantine, being sick of an incurable ulcer, betook herself to the said grave, although she was not yet a Christian, and as she lay by it and slept, she seemed to hear the voice of Agnes, saying to her Constance, be of good courage believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and He will make thee whole. The Princess, being healed, was baptized, along with many others of the Emperor's family and household, and afterwards built over the grave of the blessed Agnes a Church named in her honour.
&teDeum

[Commemoratio 2]
!Commemoration for S. Agnes Virgin and Martyr, second
Ant. Behold, now I see that * which I have desired; now I possess that for which I have hoped; now am I united in heaven to Him, Whom I loved with my whole heart upon earth.
_
V. Grace is poured into thy lips.
R. Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
_
$Oremus
O God, Who year by year dost gladden thy people by the solemn feast of thy blessed Virgin and Martyr Agnes, grant unto us, we beseech thee, not only devoutly to observe the same, but also to follow after the pattern of her godly conversation.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio94]
Peter Nolasco, born of a noble family at Recaudun near Carcassonne in France, was bereaved of his parents in his youth. Loathing the heresy of the Albigenses, he divided his patrimony and went to Spain. There, as he was praying one night, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and suggested that it would be most pleasing to her Son and to herself to have a religious order founded for the purpose of freeing those taken captive in the power of unbelievers. And so, together with St. Raymond of Pennafort and James I, king of Aragon, who had been told the same thing by the Mother of God on the very same night, he established the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of captives, the members taking a fourth vow to remain as hostages in the power of pagans if this were needed to free Christians. He was often cheered by apparitions of his guardian Angel and of the Virgin Mother of God; and when he had attained a good old age, he died a holy death in the middle of the night of the Vigil of Christmas, in the year 1256.
&teDeum