The Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship has approved the date for celebrating the memorial of Our Lady of Knock.
In a move by the congregation that includes celebratory dates for
Blessed Columba Marmion and Blessed John Henry Newman, Our Lady of Knock
has now been included to the national calendar for August 17, an
available date within the annual Novena held at Knock.
In keeping with the new inclusion on the national calendar, the
associated prayers for the memorial date together with Entrance and
Communion Antiphons will now appear in the new Roman Missal.
The date chosen for the optional memorial of Blessed Marmion is
October 3, a date coinciding with his elevation to abbot of Maredsous
Monastery, Belgium in 1909.
The optional memorial for Blessed John Henry Newman, meanwhile, has
been set as October 9, the date of his reception into the Catholic
Church in 1845.
The inclusion of both Blessed Marmion and Blessed John Henry Newman
was dicussed and approved at the March meeting of the Conference of
Irish Bishops before receiving the required recognition from the
Congregation for Divine Worship.
The national novena in honour of Our Lady of Knock takes place on
August 14 to 22 with concelebrated Mass 3pm and 8.30pm daily.
August 21,
the feast of Our Lady and the anniversary of the apparition at Knock,
will see a full candlelight procession in addition to the traditional
celebrations that day.
The full timetable of events for the novena can
be found at www.knock-shrine.ie/novena.
For more information on the new calendar dates, including prayers and collects, visit www.liturgy-ireland.ie and view liturgy documentation.