THE COMMANDER CROSS

STEP-BY-STEP ROSARY

&

THE TRADITIONAL

40-DAY ST. MARTIN FAST

12 NOV - 21 DEC

The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory,

and December is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.



The traditional St. Martin 40-days Fast leads into the 24-day Advent Fast and connects to the obligatory 4-days Advent abstinence which commence on Dec. 20 until Dec. 24. The December Ember days are right here too.


"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

(Matt 17:21)




11/11 at 11:11 is Armistice Day

&

11/11 is the St. Martin of Tours Feast Day.


Nov 12 normally starts the 40-day St. Martin Fast,
which then is on the Feast Day of Pope St. Martin I. 


You may start the 40-Days St. Martin Fast on November 13.



Our Lady on May 13, 1917 asked the children in Fatima:


"Are you willing to offer yourselves to God

and bear all the sufferings He will send you,

as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?"

"Yes we are willing.” 

“Then you will have to suffer much, but the grace of God will be your comfort." 


So, here is a honest question:

Are you ready to offer yourselves to God?


The 40-days St. Martin Fast which is also called Quadragesima Sancti Martini (40 days of St Martin), appeared to us, by coincidence, in 2019, during the infamous Amazon Synod. Apparently it was an old tradition of 40 days of fasting before giving thanks for the birth of Christ on Christmas day.

In 2022, it is something we all look forward to. 


It commence the day after the feast day of Martinmas.


Searching for some historic background about the 40-day St. Martin fast is quite interesting. What then was tricky to find any information about it, there are loads of hits when searching. This practice, apparently, can be found in scriptures from the 4th century, most likely - it was observed even before then. According to the research, it appears to be lesser strict fast as the lent fast, but we again, this is way back. It coincided with the end of autumn and the beginning of winter and this is a period after all harvesting, slaughter, and hunting season is taken care of. November was also the slaughtering season for geese.


What we knew in October 2019 and what we knew in November 2019, are miles apart.

 

There was an intense period in the mid-autumn of 2022. The structure was tighten bit by bit and it was an amazing experience.

On the Feast day of St. Andrew, one key was added our works, by a missing bible sentence; "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." (Matt 17:21). The information was from a podcast from LifeSiteNews about a missing bible sentence or rather a removed sentence, or the word 'fasting' from modern Bibles. 

Now, our founder has worked professionally with research of data for 20 years, and searched for information worldwide. For him, hearing about a "missing sentence", was like a Christmas present. And of course, it was clear that the sentence was missing but also that one of our key-online sources had tempered with the information, which again triggered our founder.


Matt 17:21 had been removed from the online 1917 Bible. It was also removed (if ever existed) in one of our ancient "go-to" online bibles. It existed in some new online-versions and some of the older. The sentence existed in Vulgate, so case closed.

Our go-to online bible from 1917, did a mistake, as the cross reference, Mark 9:29, had been tampered with between the 1917 and the 2000 version too.  And, some footnotes stated that Matt 17:21 was a "copy" of Mark 9:29 and had been added at a later period and therefore removed.

But, it existed in the Vulgate Bible.

case closed...


The Rosary is the strongest weapon we have against evil,

and it turns out that Jesus told his disciples, when they failed, that 

"this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting"


... so how do we do the 40-day St. Martin Fast?