03/05/2026
Today in the Philippines the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross is to be celebrated, superseding the IV Sunday after Easter. This feast is the reason why the Philippines has the .
According of the Table of Precedence of Liturgical Days (nos. 14 and 15) in the 1962 Missal and 1960 Breviary, a II Class feast of the Lord takes precedence over a II Class Sunday, and for that reason today the Sunday propers are superseded. The liturgical colour is red.
O Cross, brighter than all the stars, famed throughout the world, lovely unto men, and of all things the most holy, which alone wast worthy to bear the ransom of the world: O sweet wood, O sweet nails, that bore so sweet a burden, save this congregation this day assembled in Thy praise. Alleluia, alleluia. (Antiphon at the Magnificat for Vespers)
From The Saint Andrew Daily Missal:
After the victory gained by Constantine by virtue of the Cross which appeared to him in the skies, and whose sign he reproduced in the Labarum, St. Helena, his mother, went to Jerusalem to try to find the true Cross. At the beginning of the second century, Hadrian had covered Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre under a terrace of 300 feet in length, on which had been erected a statue of Jupiter and a temple of Venus. The Empress razed them to the ground, and, in digging up the soil, they discovered the nails (Alleluia) and the glorious trophy to which we owe “life, salvation and resurrection” (Introit). The miraculous cure of a woman authenticated the sacred tree (Collect).
St. Helen divided into three the precious wood which had been “worthy to bear the King of Heaven” (Alleluia), which had merely been figured by the cross on which the brazen serpent was raised. One part was deposited in Rome in the church which on this account was called Holy Cross in Jerusalem the second in Constantinople and the third in Jerusalem. This last relic having been carried off by the Persians and recovered by Heraclius, this emperor solemnly brought it back to Jerusalem on May 3rd, 628. Covered with gold and precious stones, the Emperor suddenly felt himself held back by an invincible power. At this sight, Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem, told him to imitate the poverty and humility of Jesus bearing His cross. Heraclius thereupon covered his shoulders with a common cloak and without further hindrance went his way.
https://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/feast-of-the-finding-of-the-holy-cross-may-3rd/
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In earlier editions of the Breviary and Missal, it is a Double of the II class, which meant that it automatically outranks the Sunday Mass (which is instead commemorated in First Vespers, Lauds, Mass, and Second Vespers), should it fall on a Sunday.
