What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Many thanks go out to the kind person who sent me a copy of Return to Dragon Mountain by Jonathan Spence.

Also, a few of you have used the donation button lately, for which I am grateful.

I will sip the Oolong as I read the Spence.

UPDATE: 

And another thing: I am seeing in my visitor stats some frequent visits from someone in or near Redmond, Washington.  A while back in Rome, I was out with some friends at a very small and wonderful restaurant near Sant’Agostino (Da Pietro).  Someone in the restaurant, according to the proprietor as he told me later, recognized me and paid for our entire meal and quitely left.  If it happens that you are reading the blog, thanks again for that.  I haven’t forgotten.

Also, to the person who has breathed threats against me if I show more East Asian movies during visits (especially Korean), please know that I just saw Zhang Yimou’s Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.  You would have liked it.  

Some time ago I posted an entry that EWTN plans to transmit celebrations of the older form of Mass, according to Summorum Pontificum, "occasionally".

Now I am being told this will occur "periodically".  Here is a snip of what I was sent from the owner of Secretum meum.

Regarding this entry on Your blog, we have received an email from EWTN viewer services where they use the term "periodically" instead of "occasionally". By the way, The franciscans missionaries of the eternal world are learning the Old Mass!

Folks, I am doing some work on the blog these days… or trying to.   I am among other things trying to get updated to a newer version of WordPress.  This will involve a theme change, perhaps, since my presently overly-hacked theme isn’t much liked by the newer version of Wordpress.   So, I am playing around a little while waiting for my expert help on the back end of the blog:

Here is a screen-shot of one possibility (which you can click for a larger version:

POSSIBILITY 1

I also finally found a rework of the present theme in a monochrome, skeltal form which given some effort could be modified to look like the present theme.  However, I think I would like to do more with widgets etc. that newer themes permit.

Alas, I just can’t get anything going with a graphic artist/designer yet.

Today there is a comment in Il Giornale by Andrea Tornielli, who is proving to be pretty reliable about matters concerning Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Here is his piece from 11 October, in my translation and with my emphases.

The old Tridentine Mass (but with the Roman Missal) in the heart of Milan:  this afternoon at 6 pm in the chapel of Sacred Heart Catholic University (at Largo Gemelli 1) Mass will be celebrated in the "extraordinary" form of the Roman Rite thanks to the derestriction desired by Pope Benedict XVI with his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.  Presiding at the rite will be Msgr. Gianni Ambrosi, chaplain at the Catholic University.

As is known, the derestriction by the Pope was not applied in the "Ambrosian" diocese [Milan], which has its own rite different from the Roman.  Many letters and requestions arrived in Rome in these last weeks at the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", which according to Ratzinger’s will concerns itself wtih the application of the Motu Proprio.  In the Vatican, therefore, the case of Milan is also being studied.  The Pope himself would be quite displeased by some of the instances of "resistance" being shown even in Italian dioceses and it is likely that quite soon some interpretive norms will be issued to correct the application of the document according to the meaning desired by Benedict XVI.

If you recall, a highly placed official in Milan said that the Motu Proprio would not pertain to most of Milan, where the Ambrosian Rite is used, but only the very few places where the Roman Rite is used in that Archdiocese.

However, some historical perspective is helpful.   If you read St. Pius V’s Quo primum we see that at the same time as that Pontiff said that in some regions venerable local rites could be retained, no priest could be prevented from using also the Roman Rite if he desired to use it even in those regions.  Pius V allowed, therefore, universal use of the Roman Rite that overlaid even those places where local rites were retained.  Frankly, that is pretty flexible.

However, in contrast to what some people imagine were the repressive times of the 16th century, since 1970 we saw a far more restrictive attitude about the use of venerable rites (such as the older form of the Roman Rite), though lip service was given to freedom and flexibility.  It is ironic in a way that, today, some officials in dioceses, even diocese where no local rite has ever been in use, should be less flexible and permissive than Pope Pius V.

Let us hope that this celebration of Holy Mass will be a regular occurance at the Cattolica in Milan.

Will we be seeing some "attitude adjustments" by Pope Benedict?