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St. Hedwig | Duchess of Poland | pre-1955 Missal | Latin Mass Readings | 10/16/2026 · Vox Liturgica

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  Vox Liturgica: The Propers of the Day according to the Roman Missal before 1955The feast of St. Hedwig, Duchess of Poland, October 16 in the year of our Lord 2026. Of today's saint, Gaspar Lefevre writes, Hedwig of royal origin and still more illustrious by the innocence of her life was the daughter of Berthold Prince of Corinthia and maternal aunt of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Having married Henry, Duke of Poland, she fulfilled her duties as wife so holy that the Church compares her to the strong woman whose portrait is drawn for us by the Holy Ghost in the Epistle of today.
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  She had three sons and three daughters. She macerated her body both by fasting and watching and by the roughness of her clothes. She was very charitable to the poor whom she herself served at table. She washed and kissed the ulcers of lepers. To devote herself more to the service of God she induced her husband to bind himself by vow with her to observe continence.
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  The Duke having died Hedwig, like the merchant mentioned in the gospel, gave away all her riches to acquire the precious pearl of eternal life. After praying earnestly and under divine inspiration she generously exchanged worldly pomp for the life of the cross entering the Cistercian monastery of Trebnitz where her daughter was Abbess. She died on October 15 in the year of our Lord 1243 and Poland honors her with special veneration as her patroness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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  The introit. Just are thy awards. I know it well, O Lord. It was in faithfulness thou didst afflict me. Overcome my whole being with the fear of thee.
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  I am in dread of thy judgments. Blessed are they who pass through life's journey unstained, following the law of the Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be, through all ages of ages. Amen. Just are thy awards.
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  I know it well, O Lord. It was in faithfulness thou didst afflict me. Overcome my whole being with the fear of thee. I am in dread of thy judgments. The Collect.
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  Let us pray. O God, who didst teach blessed Hedwig to renounce the palms of this world with her whole heart so that she might humbly follow thy cross, grant that through her example and merits we may learn to trample underfoot the perishable delights of this world, and by cleaving to thy cross overcome whatever may withstand us, who liveth and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God through all ages of ages. Amen. A lesson from the book of Proverbs. A man who has found a valiant wife has found a rare treasure brought from distant shores, Bound to her in loving confidence, he will have no need of spoil.
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  Content, not sorrow, she will bring him as long as life lasts. Does she not busy herself with wool and thread, plying her hands with ready skill? Ever, she steers her course like some merchant ship bringing provision from far away. From early dawn she is up assigning food to the household so that each waiting woman has her share. Ground must be examined and bought and planted out as a vineyard with the earnings of her toil.
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  How briskly she girds herself to the task. How tireless are her arms. Industry she knows is well rewarded and all night long her lamp does not go out. Jealously she sets her hands to work. Her fingers clutch the spindle.
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  Kindly is her welcome to the poor. Her purse ever open to those in need. Let the snow lie cold if it will. She has no fears for her household. No servant of hers but is warmly clad.
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  Made by her own hands was the coverlet on her bed. The clothes of lawn and purple that she wears. None so honored at the city gate as that husband of hers when he sits in council with the elders of the land. Often she will sell linen of her own weaving or make a girdle for the traveling merchant to buy. Protected by her own industry and good repute, she greets the morrow with a smile.
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  Ripe wisdom governs her speech, but it is kindly instruction she gives. She keeps watch over all that goes on in her house, not content to go through life eating and sleeping. That is why her children are the first to call her blessed. Her husband is loud in her praise. Unrivaled art thou among all women that have enriched their homes.
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  Vain are the winning ways. Beauty is a snare. It is the woman who fears the lord that will achieve renown. Work such as hers claims its reward. Let her life be spoken of with praise at the city gates.
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  The gradual, grace is poured out upon your lips. Thus God has blessed you forever because of truth and meekness and justice. Thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully. Alleluia, alleluia. In all thy majesty, in all thy beauty, make ready, ride on in triumph, and take thy crown.
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  Alleluia. A continuation of the holy gospel according to Matthew. At that time Jesus told his disciples this parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man has found it and hidden it again.
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  And now, for the joy it gives him, is going home to sell all that he has and buy that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is as if a trader were looking for rare pearls. And now he has found one pearl of great price, and has sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and enclosed fish of every kind at once. When it was full, the fishermen drew it up, and sat on the beach, where they stored all that was worth keeping in their buckets, and threw the useless kind away.
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  So it will be when the world is brought to an end. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the just, and will cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you grasped all this? Yes, Lord, they told him. And he said to them, every scholar then whose learning is of the kingdom of heaven must be like a rich man who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
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  The offertory. Grace is poured out upon your lips. Thus God has blessed you forever. The secret: may this sacrifice of thy dedicated people be accepted by thee, O Lord, in honour of thy Saints, to whose merits we attribute the help afforded us in tribulation, through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God through all ages of ages. Amen.
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  The Common Preface Just it is indeed and fitting, right in for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting God, through whom the angels praise thy majesty, the dominions worship it, the power stand in awe, the heavens and the hosts of heaven together with the blessed Seraphim joyfully do magnify. We entreat thee that thou command it be permitted us to join with them in confessing thee while we say with lowly praise. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. The heavens and the earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
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  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The communion. You love justice and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
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  The post communion, let us pray. Thou hast filled thy household, O Lord, with heavenly gifts. Do thou cherish us always through the intercession of her whose festival we are keeping through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God through all ages of ages. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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  Amen. Thanks be to God. Saint Hedwig, pray for us.