HNS Induction Ceremony

According to our chapter's constitution, once a member-candidate's application for admission into the Holy Name Society has been approved by a vote of the confraternity's membership, he can become a voting member of the Society only after he has been formally received through an induction ceremony.

The Membership Induction Ceremony is generally conducted once a year. Additional ceremonies can be scheduled, however, if there are enough member-candidates to warrant one.

The induction ceremony begins with the singing of "O Holy Name" (a hymn written by Boston Archbishop, William Cardinal O'Connell), opening remarks by the moderator (seen here), and prayers for those member-candidates who have asked to be admitted into the Holy Name Society that God may bless their intentions and strengthen their resolutions. .

All kneel as the choir chants the hynm, "Veni Creator Spiritus". During this period of meditation, we ask the Holy Ghost to cleanse our hearts and minds that we may be able to perfectly love Our Lord and worthily praise His Holy Name.

Those member-candidates who wish to be inducted are called forth and are asked to kneel along the altar rail.

The priest-celebrant then questions the member-candidates on their intentions, and asks them if they are truly ready to follow the precepts and code of conduct of the confraternity.

Having promised to keep the precepts of the Society, they officially become members, once they have recited the Holy Name Pledge .

Metal pins, which Holy Name men wear on their labels as a sign of membership, and copies of the Holy Name manual are blessed by the priest-celebrant with the words, "Benedictionem tuam effunde super hćc insignia: et prćsta ut quisquis eis secundum legem et voluntatem tuam cum gratiarum
actione usus fuerit, per invocationem Sanctissimi Nominis tui, corporis sanitatem
et animć tutelam, te auctore percipiat."
(Translated in the ceremony's text below)

The newly inducted candidates receive their pins and manuals as the priest-celebrant recites the words, "Accept Brother these emblems of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of Jesus; may they be to you a pledge of eternal salvation."

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Induction Ceremony For Membership Into
The Holy Name Society

Opening hymn: “O Holy Name”

Moderator: (Opening Remarks)

[All please kneel]

Priest: Let us pray for those here present, who have asked to be admitted into our Confraternity that God may bless their intentions and strengthen their resolutions. With the help of divine grace, may they observe their promises, remain faithful to the practices of the Confraternity, and merit to attain eternal life.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father

Meditation: “Veni Creator Spiritus”

Priest: Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.

Response: And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Priest: Let us pray. O God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secret is hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inpouring of Thy Holy Ghost, that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

X Questioning of the Candidates X

Moderator: Reverend Father, certain parishioners here present desire to be admitted into the Holy Name Society.

Priest: If there are no objections on the part of the Society, let them come forward.

Moderator: Will those Catholics who have indicated their desire to become members of the Holy Name Society, please come forward as your name is called.

[When your name is called, proceed to the altar rail and kneel]

Priest: My dear Brethren, since you have manifested a desire to be admitted into the Holy Name Society, it is necessary that we know your dispositions. Are you disposed to observe its Rules and Constitutions, so as to merit a participation in its spiritual favors?

Candidates: With the grace of God, I am.

Priest: Brethren, you know what will be required of you as members of the Holy Name Society. Do you, therefore, promise to respect and to love the Sacred Name of Jesus, and to do all in your power to extend that respect and love, as well as belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ?

Candidates: With the grace of God, I do promise.

Priest: Do you promise to abstain from blasphemous and immodest language, and to labor that those under your charge refrain from such language?

Candidates: With the grace of God, I do promise.

Priest: Do you promise to observe Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation and, as far as you can, make those under your charge observe them; and to strive, both by word and example, to promote the glory of God and the reverence due to His Holy Law?

Candidates: With the grace of God, I do promise.

Priest: Do you promise to receive Holy Communion regularly with the Society?

Candidates: With the grace of God, I do promise.

Priest: Since such are your dispositions, you are now permitted to pronounce your solemn pledge, by which you shall be admitted to all the privileges and benefits of our Society.

Moderator: All candidates and all members, please stand up and raise your right hand.

[The moderator will invoke the Holy Name Pledge. After raising
their right hands, candidates will then repeat the Pledge after him.]

Holy Name Pledge

X	Blessed be God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

X	I profess publicly my belief that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man for the salvation of mankind.

X	I recognize His divine authority and believe that all power on earth, civil and religious, comes from Him.

X	I believe all the sacred truths, which the Holy Catholic Church believes and teaches.

X	I proclaim my love for the Vicar of Christ on Earth.

X	All lawfully constituted authority I respect and promise to obey.

X	May the God of Justice guide the minds and uphold the hands of those vested with His power.

X	May the God of Might break asunder the bonds of those met together against the Lord and against His Christ.

X	In honor of His Divine Name, I pledge myself against perjury, blasphemy, profanity, and obscene speech.

X	Praised be the Name of God and blessed be the Name of His Divine Son now and forever. Amen.

Priest: May God bless your resolutions; may His holy angels and saints assist you to keep them. Laboring during your whole life for the glory and honor of the Holy Name of God, may you merit to share in the glory of the Apostles, the Martyrs, and Confessors who labored and died for the Name of Jesus. Amen.

X Blessing and Presentation of the Society’s Insignia X

Moderator: We now have the blessing of the Holy Name Insignia and Manuals.

Priest: Adjutorium nostrum in Nomine Domini.

ALL: Qui fecit cœlum et terram.

Priest: Dominus vobiscum.

ALL: Et cum spiritu tuo.

Priest: Oremus. Deus, cujus verbo sanctificantur omnia, benedictionem tuam effunde super hćc insignia: et prćsta ut quisquis eis secundum legem
et voluntatem tuam cum gratiarum
actione usus fuerit, per invocationem Sanctissimi Nominis tui, corporis sanitatem et animć tutelam, te auctore percipiat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

ALL: Amen.

Priest: Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

ALL: Who made heaven and earth.

Priest: The Lord be with you.

ALL: And also with you.

Priest: Let us pray. O God, by whose word all things are made holy, pour forth your blessings on these emblems and grant that each one who, prompted by grace, employs these emblems lawfully and according to Thy will, by calling on Thy Most Holy Name may enjoy, under Thy guidance, bodily health and peace of soul. Through Christ Our Lord.

ALL: Amen.

[After saying “Amen” candidates should kneel at the altar rail. The emblems and
books will then be sprinkled with holy water and presented to each member.]

Priest: Accept Brother these emblems of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of Jesus; may they be to you a pledge of eternal salvation.

[Once the insignias have been distributed, the
ceremony continues with the following prayer.]

Priest: Sit Nomen Domini benedictum.

ALL: Ex hoc nunc et usque in sćculum.

Priest: Domine exaudi orationem meam.

ALL: Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Priest: Dominus vobiscum

ALL: Et cum spiritu tuo.

Priest: Oremus. Respice qućsumus Domine super hos famulos tuos, qui inter confratres Societatis Sanctissimi Nominis tui connumerari desiderant, ut Nomini tuo psallentes et benedicentes in terris, te laudare et benedicere mereantur in cœlis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

ALL: Amen.

Priest: Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

ALL: Now and forever.

Priest: Lord hear my prayer.

ALL: And let my cry come to Thee.

Priest: The Lord be with you.

ALL: And also with you.

Priest: Let us pray. Look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon Thy servants who wish to be numbered among the brethren of the Confraternity of Thy Most Holy Name, that praising and blessing Thy Name on earth, they may merit to praise and bless Thee in Heaven. Through Christ our Lord.

ALL: Amen.

Priest: By the authority granted me, I receive and enroll you in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and make you sharers of all the graces, indulgences, privileges, and spiritual benefits of this Confraternity X In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

X Plenary Indulgence X

Moderator: In order to gain the Plenary Indulgence attached to your reception into the Society, we will say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be for the intentions of the Holy Father. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Priest: Dominus vobiscum.

ALL: Et cum spiritu tuo.

Priest: Oremus. Deus, cujus misericordić non est numerus, et bonitatis infinitus est thesaurus: tuć piissimć majestati pro collatis nobis donis gratias agimus, tuam semper clementiam exorantes, ut, qui petenibus postulata concedis, eosdem non deserens ad prćmia futura disponas. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Priest: The Lord be with you.

ALL: And also with you.

Priest: Let us pray. O God, whose mercy is boundless and whose goodness is infinite, we give thanks to Thy most gracious majesty for gathering us together, always praying Thy clemency, that Thou may fulfill the requests of those who ask, and so dispose then that they may merit rewards in the days to come. Through Christ our Lord.

ALL: Amen.

[Candidates should stand for the closing hymn]

Closing hymn: “Holy God We Praise Thy Name”