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Tuesday 18 November 2008
Tuesday of week 33 of the year
or Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
or Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne

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Tomorrow: Wednesday of week 33 of the year
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Come, let us worship the Lord, the great King.

The Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul: Already in the twelfth century there was being celebrated today the anniversary of the dedication of the basilicas of St Peter at the Vatican and St Paul in the Via Ostiense by Pope St Silvester and Pope St Siricius in the fourth century. More recently this commemoration has been extended to the whole Church, honouring the two greatest apostles of Christ just as the anniversary of the dedication of St Mary Major (5 August) celebrates the motherhood of the Virgin Mother of God.

Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769 - 1852): She was born to a noble family at Grenoble in France. She joined the Visitation nuns at the age of 18 but the community was abolished by the French Revolution. After several attempts to re-establish it, Philippine with some of her companions joined the recently-founded Religious of the Sacred Heart. She had always dreamt of being a missionary and in 1818 she sailed for the New World. She landed at New Orleans and she and her companions settled at St Charles, Missouri. They founded an orphanage: other foundations followed, and she is credited with saving the Jesuit mission to Missouri from failure, helping them in any way she could and sharing her community’s few resources with them.
Philippine longed to spread the gospel among the Indian tribes. At the age of 72 she went with three companions to start a school for Indian girls at Sugar Creek, Kansas. She only stayed there a year, but although she was unable to learn the language her habit constant prayer was a lasting inspiration to the pupils. She spent the last 10 years of her life back at St Charles, in constant prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
See also the article in Wikipedia.

Mid-morning reading (Terce)	Jeremiah 17:7-8 ©
A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green; it has no worries in a year of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit.

Noon reading (Sext)	Proverbs 3:13-15 ©
Happy the man who discovers wisdom, the man who gains discernment: gaining her is more rewarding than silver, more profitable than gold. She is beyond the price of pearls, nothing you could covet is her equal.

Afternoon reading (None)	Job 5:17-18 ©
Happy indeed the man whom God corrects! So do not refuse this lesson from the Omnipotent: for he who wounds is he who soothes the sore, and the hand that hurts is the hand that heals.

November 2008
Mon 17	Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
Tue 18	Tuesday of week 33 of the year or Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles or Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne
Wed 19
Thu 20
Fri 21	The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sat 22	Saint Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr
Sun 23	Christ the King
Mon 24	Saints Andrew Dung-Lac and his Companions, Martyrs

Calendar used: United States - Ascension on Sunday

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.

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