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Saturday 25 October 2025    (other days)
Saturday of week 29 in Ordinary Time 
 or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

Using calendar: England. You can pick a diocese or region.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness: come, let us adore him.

Year: C(I). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Green.

Saturday memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary

‘On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.
  ‘Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This memorial derives from Carolingian times (9th century), but the reasons for having chosen Saturday for its observance are unknown. While many explanations of this choice have been advanced, none is completely satisfactory from the point of view of the history of popular piety.
  ‘Whatever its historical origins may be, today the memorial rightly emphasizes certain values to which contemporary spirituality is more sensitive. It is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith and hope, on that “great Saturday” on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord’s resurrection. It is a prelude and introduction to the celebration of Sunday, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection of Christ. It is a sign that the Virgin Mary is continuously present and operative in the life of the Church.’
  Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001), §188

Other saints: Frei Galvão (1739-1822)

Brazil
Antônio Galvão was born in the state of São Paulo to a deeply religious family of high social and political status. He was educated by the Jesuits from the age of 13, but although he wanted to become a Jesuit this was judged inopportune because of official persecution of the order (which was suppressed in the Portuguese Empire in 1759). Instead, at the age of 16, Galvão joined the Franciscans and took the name of ‘Anthony of St Anne’ in honour of his family’s devotion to that saint.
  He was ordained a priest in 1762 and transferred to São Paulo, where, with only brief intervals, he spent the rest of his life. He was revered as a confessor and a healer, and popular devotion to him was such that both ecclesiastical postings and governmental decrees that would have taken him away from São Paulo soon had to be rescinded. He died there on 23 December 1822, at the Recollect House (a hermitage which he had served and defended since 1769).
  He was beatified in 1998 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 May 2007 during his visit to Brazil. He is the first Brazilian-born saint.

About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:

Second Reading: St Peter Chrysologus (380 - 450)

Peter was born and died in Imola in northern Italy. He was made bishop of Ravenna, the new capital of the Roman Empire, and was responsible for many of the building works there. The name “Chrysologus” means “golden speech”, and was given to Peter because he was such a gifted preacher; unfortunately, most of his writings have perished, and only a collection of short sermons remains.

Liturgical colour: green

The theological virtue of hope is symbolized by the colour green, just as the burning fire of love is symbolized by red. Green is the colour of growing things, and hope, like them, is always new and always fresh. Liturgically, green is the colour of Ordinary Time, the orderly sequence of weeks through the year, a season in which we are being neither single-mindedly penitent (in purple) nor overwhelmingly joyful (in white).

Mid-morning reading (Terce)1 Kings 8:60-61
May all the peoples of the earth come to know that the Lord is God indeed, and that there is no other. May your hearts be wholly with the Lord our God, following his laws and keeping his commandments as at this present day.

Noon reading (Sext)Jeremiah 17:9-10
The heart is more devious than any other thing, perverse too: who can pierce its secrets? I, the Lord, search to the heart, I probe the loins, to give each man what his conduct and his actions deserve.

Afternoon reading (None)Wisdom 7:27,8:1
Although she is alone, Wisdom can accomplish everything. She deploys her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things for good.

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