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Christ is the chief shepherd, the leader of his flock: come, let us adore him.

Year: A(II). Psalm week: 3. Liturgical Colour: White.

In other years: St Angela Merici (1470 - 1540)

She was born in Desenziano, in Lombardy, in about 1470. She became a Franciscan tertiary and set up a school to instruct girls in Christianity and good works. In 1535 she founded the Ursulines, an order of nuns devoted to giving a Christian education to girls from poor families. She died in 1540. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

Other saints: Blessed Edward Oldcorne (1561-1606)

Birmingham

Edward Oldcorne was born in the City of York in 1561, the son of a bricklayer. He studied abroad from 1581, first at Rheims, then at the Venerable English College, Rome, where he was ordained in 1587. While in Rome, he joined the Society of Jesus. Once back in England, he worked in Worcestershire for eighteen years with great success in reconciling men and women to the Church. At the time of the Gunpowder Plot he was captured at Hindlip House on 27 January 1606, taken to London and racked. His trial for treason took place at Worcester, where he was executed on 7 April 1606 on Red Hill. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929; his memorial is kept on the day of his capture.

Birmingham Ordo

Other saints: St Henry de Osso (1840-1896)

27 Jan (where celebrated)

Saint Henry de Osso y Cervello was born on 16 October 1840, the last of three children born to Jamie de Osso and Micaela Cervello. In 1852 he was apprenticed to his uncle who worked in the textile trade. His growing desire to serve in ordained ministry later led him to begin seminary studies in 1854 in Barcelona. Henry was later ordained to the priesthood on 21 September 1867. During his ministry he proved to be an able catechist and was particularly noted for supporting the education of women. This skill led him to found the Society of Saint Teresa of Jesus (in whom he found spiritual inspiration) for the education of women, in Tarragona in 1876. Later he also founded the mass-movement Hermanadad Teresiana Universal and a Josephine congregation for women and men. Henry died suddenly during his work on 27 January 1896 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

Other saints: Bl. Marcolino of Forli OP (1317 - 1397)

27 Jan (where celebrated)

Dominican Friar and Priest.

Blessed Marcolino was born in Forli, Italy, in 1317 and entered the Dominican Order as a youth. He loved silence and solitude and was noted for his devotion to the Virgin Mother of God. He supported the reform efforts of Raymond of Capua, faithfully carried out his priestly ministry and performed works of charity. He was a counselor for many. especially of the sick. He died on January 24, 1397.

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

Second Reading: St Basil the Great (330 - 379)

St Basil the Great, or Basil of Caesarea, was one of the three men known as the Cappadocian Fathers. The others are his younger brother, St Gregory of Nyssa, and St Gregory Nazianzen. They were active after the Council of Nicaea, working to formulate Trinitarian doctrine precisely and, in particular, to pin down the meaning and role of the least humanly comprehensible member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Basil was the leader and organizer; Gregory of Nazianzus was the thinker, the orator, the poet, pushed into administrative and episcopal roles by circumstances and by Basil; and Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s brother, although not a great stylist, was the most gifted of the three as a philosopher and theologian. Together, the Cappadocian Fathers hammered out the doctrine of the Trinity like blacksmiths forging a piece of metal by hammer-blows into its perfect, destined shape. They were champions – and successful champions – of orthodoxy against Arianism, a battle that had to be conducted as much on the worldly and political plane as on the philosophical and theological one.

In addition to his role in doctrinal development, Basil is also the father of Eastern monasticism. He moderated the heroic ascetic practices that were characteristic of earlier monastic life, to the point where they could be part of a life in which work, prayer and ascetic practices could be in harmonious balance. Knowledge of Basil’s work and Rule spread to the West and was an influence on the founding work of St Benedict.

The works of Basil that appear in the Second Readings are mostly from his works on the Holy Spirit, but there are also extracts from his monastic Rule.

Liturgical colour: white

White is the colour of heaven. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate feasts of the Lord; Christmas and Easter, the great seasons of the Lord; and the saints. Not that you will always see white in church, because if something more splendid, such as gold, is available, that can and should be used instead. We are, after all, celebrating.

In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form.