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Need some easy suggestions for incorporating the liturgical feasts and dedication of February into your family? Look no further!
Grab my FEBRUARY liturgical board printable HERE ->
February is a time where we’re all inundated with the secular observance of St. Valentine’s Day. Rather than spurn this, I firmly hold that it is actually a good thing that our society’s “biggest holidays” find their origins in Catholic feasts!
Cards, hearts, chocolates – I believe all these are wonderful when tied back to St. Valentine, but did you also know that FEBRUARY is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Family?
So that it can be easy to remember all the major Catholic feasts of February, I’ve created a handy liturgical board for February which includes a beautiful image of the Holy Family, a list of the major feasts of February, an indulgenced prayer dedicated to the Holy Family, another common prayer of the faithful, a Bible verse, a Baltimore Catechism reading plan (starts in September), hymn suggestions in Latin, English and Spanish as well as a Gregorian chant Mass from the Kyriale, and an original virtue poem which I created for my young children with actual definitions of the virtue taken from the Baltimore Catechism and the Summa Theologiae. For February I chose the theological virtue of faith.
I think this liturgical board is perfect for busy mothers and fathers to incorporate liturgical living into their homes, as well as catechists and school teachers who need an easy-to-follow “liturgical element” in their classrooms.
Now that you know about my convenient print and go liturgical board (I also offer a discounted yearly bundle as well), below you will find explanations of the various prayers, devotions and customs for the liturgical feasts of this month of February!
Candlemas, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and The Presentation of Our Lord
One of the biggest feast days in February, which marks the end of the Christmas cycle, is Candlemas (February 2nd), also known by the other two titles above. It is a feast in which the faithful may bring candles to be blessed and participate in a special procession followed by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Blessed Virgin took with her to Jerusalem the Infant Jesus, and the Candlemas procession recalls the journey of Mary and Joseph ascending to the temple to present “the Angel of the Covenant” (Epistle, Introit) as Malachy has prophesied.
St. Andrew’s Missal, p. 1085
As a mother, it reminds me of the traditional 40 days after giving birth that Hebrew women would use to recover from childbirth, resting and nourishing their bodies. It is after these 40 days that Our Lady presented the Christ Child in the temple, providing one of the traditional temple offerings of two doves.
Similarly, a beautiful practice which stems from this feast of Candlemas is the Churching of Women, a ritual in which a mother would go to church after childbirth as soon as she is able, and receive a special blessing with holy water while the priest recites a psalm and other prayers as she holds a lighted candle…see the resemblance?
Why Candles?
Simple – candles symbolize purity!
“The wax of the candles signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant”, says St. Anselm, “the wick figures His soul and the flame His divinity.”
St. Andrew’s Missal, p. 1085
I would also be remiss if I did not mention the superiority of 100% beeswax candles to any other type of candle, as their sweet smell carries across the room and actually purifies the air, as opposed to other candles like soy which can actually be harmful to breathe in. So make sure to get beeswax for Candlemas! I’ll get off my non-toxic soapbox now 🙂
St. Valentine Prayers and Devotions
February 14th marks the Catholic feast of St. Valentine, and while there is no shortage of information on the true St. Valentine (which may or may not include multiple saints by the same name), I thought I would include this short explanation of our modern “Valentine” by Fr. Scott Haynes:
“It is piously held St. Valentine defied the order of the emperor Claudius and secretly performed Christian weddings for couples, allowing the husbands involved to escape conscription into the pagan army. This legend claims that soldiers were sparse at this time, so this was a big inconvenience to the emperor. The account mentions that in order ‘to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment’, giving them to these persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine’s Day.”
Blog, Mystical Theology of the Mass, Rev. Fr. Scott Haynes
Patron saint of beekeepers, marriages, young people, and those with epilepsy, St. Valentine was above all a priest who died for the Catholic faith during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian in 270. A beautiful traditional novena to St. Valentine (Feb. 5-13) can also be found on Fr. Haynes’ blog:
“O glorious advocate and protector, Saint Valentine, look with pity upon our wants, hear our requests, attend to our prayers, relieve by your intercession the miseries under which we labor, and obtain for us the Divine blessing, that we may be found worthy to join thee in praising the Almighty for all eternity; through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray, then, O holy Martyr, for the faithful, who are so persevering in celebrating thy memory. The day of Judgment will reveal to us all thy glorious merits. Oh! intercede for us, that we may then be made thy companions at the right hand of the Great Judge, and be united with thee eternally in heaven.
Let us pray. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who solemnize the festival of blessed Valentine, Thy Martyr, may, by his intercession, be delivered from all the evils that threaten us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Mention your intentions here)
V. Saint Valentine, advocate and protector,
R. Pray for us.
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be”
Holy Family Prayers and Devotions
A great practice to “split up” (so to speak) the great treasury of Catholic prayers and devotions is to follow the traditional dedications of each month, which for this month of February is the Holy Family.
A simple prayer to the Holy Family which I found from the Raccolta, (the Italian word for “collection” and the shortened title for “Collection of Prayers and Pious Works for Which Holy Indulgences Have Been Conceded by the Supreme Pontiffs”) is the following:
“JESUS, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. JESUS, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony. JESUS, Mary, Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.”
427. Raccolta. i. 300 Days. T.Q. ii. 100 Days, for saying one of the same. (See Instructions.) 427 Pius VII, April 28. 1807
I have this prayer included in my February liturgical board which you can find here.
Another beautiful prayer to the Holy Family is the following:
JESUS, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace to love the Church, as we ought, above every other earthly thing, and always to show forth our love by deeds. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
Raccolta #458, 300 Days, once a day. (See Instructions) 458 Leo XIII, May 17, 1890.
JESUS, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace without fear or human respect openly to profess, as we ought, the faith which was given to us in baptism. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
JESUS, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace to share, as we ought, in the defence and
propagation of the Faith, when duty calls, whether by word or by the sacrifice of our fortunes and our
lives. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
JESUS, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace to love one another, as we ought, and to live together in perfect harmony of thought, will and action, under the rule and guidance of our pastors. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
JESUS, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace to conform our lives, as we ought, to the
precepts of GOD and of the Church, so as to live always in that charity which they set forth. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
And finally a beautiful litany to include after your daily rosary is the Litany of the Holy Family, compiled by SSPX priest Fr. William MacGillivray, which can be printed here.
Catholic Hymns for February | Sacred Music | FREE Sheet Music Below!
For this month I decided to sing and teach my children the hymn Ave Regina Caelorum (simple tone), which is the Marian antiphon sung for the office of Compline, assigned for February 2nd until Wednesday of Holy Week. It is strikingly simple to learn and very beautiful, I encourage you to take a listen. A translation is found here below:
“Hail, O Queen of Heaven.
Source: Wikipedia, “Ave Regina Caelorum”
Hail, O Lady of Angels
Hail! thou root, hail! thou gate
From whom unto the world a light has arisen:
Rejoice, O glorious Virgin,
Lovely beyond all others,
Farewell, most beautiful maiden,
And pray for us to Christ.”
As February may or may not include the movable feast of Septuagesima, another English hymn which I believe fits perfectly into the penitential spirit of Septuagesima is “God of Mercy and Compassion”, made famous by the Benedictines of Mary. It’s included in my Traditional Roman Hymnal which I try to stick to when picking monthly hymns.
And finally, capping off our sacred music selections for February is the Spanish hymn “El Pecado” which is a beautiful prayer to the Blessed Virgin to preserve us from sin in life to the hour of death. I included this rare sheet music as well as my own translation in my FREE sheet music printable which you can download below!
I also included Mass IV from the Kyriale in this sheet music printable for your own study and listening for the month of February. I encourage you to print it out and put in your own “Family Hymnal”!