Feast of Christ the Priest
Encyclopedia
The Feast of Christ the Priest is a liturgical feast celebrated each year, on the first Thursday after Pentecost
, by the Confraternity
of Christ the Priest http://www.christthepriest.com in Australia and all the Roman Catholic dioceses of Spain. Approval was first granted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacramentshttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/index.htm in 1987.
The Feast focusses firstly on Jesus
Christ in His office (Latin: Munus) of Priest
. He is the model for our imitation, and when we pray for priests we are praying that they would be like Christ, the compassionate and trustworthy high priest (Hebrews 2:17), ever living to intercede for us (Heb 7:25).
The Second Vatican Council
taught many things about the Priesthood of Christ and sharing in that one Priesthood through the Sacraments of Baptism
and Orders. This development has been reflected in many subsequent documents. One effective way to build upon this teaching is to establish the Feast of Christ the Priest more widely.
For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year - in fact, forever.
What Pope Pius XI
wrote here about the feast in honor of Our Lord’s Kingship can be said just as truly about this feast in honor of Our Lord’s Priesthood.
The feast has its proper texts for the Mass, as for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Eucharist B, and approved Latin, Spanish and English texts for the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, by the Confraternity
Confraternity
A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy...
of Christ the Priest http://www.christthepriest.com in Australia and all the Roman Catholic dioceses of Spain. Approval was first granted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacramentshttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/index.htm in 1987.
The Feast focusses firstly on Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
Christ in His office (Latin: Munus) of Priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
. He is the model for our imitation, and when we pray for priests we are praying that they would be like Christ, the compassionate and trustworthy high priest (Hebrews 2:17), ever living to intercede for us (Heb 7:25).
The Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
taught many things about the Priesthood of Christ and sharing in that one Priesthood through the Sacraments of Baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
and Orders. This development has been reflected in many subsequent documents. One effective way to build upon this teaching is to establish the Feast of Christ the Priest more widely.
For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year - in fact, forever.
What Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
wrote here about the feast in honor of Our Lord’s Kingship can be said just as truly about this feast in honor of Our Lord’s Priesthood.
The feast has its proper texts for the Mass, as for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Eucharist B, and approved Latin, Spanish and English texts for the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.