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

Some FSSP news: 

 

The Superior General of the FSSP, The Very Reverend Fr. John Berg, with the consent of the General Council, has accepted the request of Fr. George Gabet, FSSP to step down as District Superior and has named Fr. Eric Flood, FSSP as his successor.  Fr. Flood was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in the year 2000 a.D. by Bishop Timlin of Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Father spent three years at his first Priestly assignment in Omaha, Nebraska and then he was transferred to Maple Hill, Kansas for the next 4 1/2 years.  Fr. Flood will now spend most of his time at the North American Headquarters of the Fraternity in Elmhurst, PA.  

In the past I have searched in vain for someone to help develop the wordpress theme for this blog.

I have a couple options. 

Keep this theme, but upgrade it, widgetize it, etc. (I can’t do that myself.)
Change the theme completely.  (That I can do.)

FWIW

Many thanks to NLM for this great glimpse of a new old church being completed in La Crosse, WI, which H.E. Raymond Burke initiated.

Honestly, this church looks like it was transported from Baroque Rome.

Look at this new … I repeat… new… baldachino.

 

Go over to NLM for more. 

Here is a fascinating piece from Petrus.  My translation, emphases.

For Palm Sunday the Pope will wear vestments with the coat-of-arms of the Medici Pope, Leo X

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO -

On Palm Sunday, 16 March next, Benedict XVI will put on a series of sacred vestments which reproduce the fabric and coat-of-arms of the Medici Pope Leo X.  This will be a damask of red silk and gold thread, with brocade details recalling the heraldic motifs of the family that governed Florence for centuries, namely, the three rings with the diamond point, united in concentric circles and contained within a double-lobed leaf.  In effect, Benedict XVI will be dressed like Giovanni de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, when he became Pope Leo X, 11 March 1513.  This is an advance notice from Il Giornale della Toscana.  After having carried out for Ash Wednesday, for the Office of the Master of Ceremonies of the Vatican, a lampasso [FR. Z: a fabric woven of both silk and gold thread] (a fabric of great value) brocade of violet which bore the heraldic emblems of Pope Paul V, Borgehese, the director of the company "Tridentinum" of Ferrara, Pietro Siffi, suggested some months ago a reproduction of fabric that was developed for the ascent of Giovanni de’ Medici to the pontifical throne.  The proposal forms part of an initiative to reappraise certain practically forgotten Roman vestments.  Benedict XVI on Palm Sunday will wear a chasuble, dalmatic, cope and varies other parts made precisely with this fabric and coat of arms.  And with him the 7 deacons who will accompany him, for a total of 30 pieces.  The original fabric, made for the ascent of Leo X to the pontifical throne, is held by the Frati Servi di Maria in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziate in Florence.

Several observations.

1) The historic vestments used by the Pope are not all being taken from the dusty cabinets which had been locked up for so long under the term of Mons. Piero Marini.  They are also being commissioned.

 

2) There is a purposeful plan to "resurrect" historical fabrics and styles of vestments. 

I think the Holy Father is saying something by commissioning new vestments of old styles and ancient fabrics.  The very fabric and vestments he wears seem to reflect the principle of a hermeneutic of continuity: old treasures, made present as a guide into the future.  So, there is an organic development taking place in his choice of important vestments for important occasions.

While I love the idea of simply drawing forth the splendors that have been so long locked up, rather than spending what must be a not small amount of money, I also am pleased to see the Holy See becoming again a patron of fine works at this level of skill.  I know that in the past many vestments were commissioned, but very many of them were not really very successful.  Those which were acceptable were forgettable while those which were memorable were apalling.  Holy Church has been the greatest patroness of the arts the world has ever known.  That is harder to realize today, because the formation of artists is so lacking now.  But it is time to get back into the game.

I am also interested to see the name of Pietro Siffi.  This is the fellow who reproduced the Italian language liturgical manual for the 1962 edition of the Missale Romanum by Ludovico Trimeloni, the Compendio di Liturgia Pratica today (Milano: Marietti 1829, 2007).  I wrote about it here and other places on this blog.  Siffi also has a little book out called, La Messa di San Pio V: osservazioni sul rito tridentino in risposta ai critici del motu proprio, an apologetic work about the older form of Mass as a response to critics of Summorum Pontificum.  So, this fellow is now working hand in glove with the Master of Ceremonies, Mons. Guido Marini and with the Roman Pontiff, in what seems more and more to be a coordinated projected.

I keep writing about a Marshall Plan.  I think we are seeing another part of it. 

Say what you want about other aspects of this Holy Father’s administration, which perhaps has not yet addressed some issues that need addressing, but he is certainly pushing ahead that all important tip of the spear, which is the liturgy.

Finally, Pope Leo X, whose body is found in Santa Maria sopra Minerva near the Pantheon, is the one who excommunicated Martin Luther.