This is from the Catacombs of Priscilla: The three wise men and the Madonna and Christ Child.
I took out the Rituale Romanum on this Feast of the Epiphany from the book shelf in the little chapel of Holy Souls Hermitage and made use of the blessing which recalls Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, both for the blessing of the clay (chalk) and then the house blessing, with exorcized water/salt.
Oh, and, by the way: I’m sure that the wise men, who are accompanying us throughout 2013, would like us to mediate on two aspects of Christ’s ministry so that we are blessed for the whole year, those being the other aspects of Epiphany which the Church hold’s out to us: the Baptism of Christ (a ferocious mediation on that HERE) and the Wedding of Cana (a ferocious meditation on that HERE). You might want to read those over this week as the Christmas/Epiphany season continues.






Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 





