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

WDTPRS has learned that the inaugural Mass for the brand spankin’ new personal parish for use of the pre-conciliar books for Mass and all sacraments, yes parish, at Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, will be a Solemn Mass at 10 a.m. on Sunday 8 June. 

H.E. Most Rev. Ernesto Mandara, auxiliary bishop for the Centro Storico of Rome, will be in choir. 

I urge all Roman readers to attend, clerics and seminarians in proper choir dress.

Would that I could make it!

And, no, there will not be concelebration.

(I couldn’t resist.)

Here is an amusing story from the newsie site for BYU:

Good, accurate historical records are hard to come by; especially those with names. Thanks to linguistic evolutions, military conflicts and numerous other factors, some periods of history have full, rich accounts while others have splotchy accounts at best. But even in the best of times, finding the names of the king and family is easy. Finding several generations of tenants or farmers can be near impossible.

Fortunately for historians and researchers, the Catholic Church has kept detailed membership registries for over 1,000 years, giving us the names, parents and birthplaces of every church member in society: princes, priests and peasants. In fact, these records have endured as one of the hallmarks of the Catholic clergy. These records have been a valuable asset to scholars, historians and even individuals doing personal research. These documents were of particular interest to Latter-day Saints trying to chart their own genealogy.  [Genealogy!  Okay!  So that’s what they’re doing!]

But not anymore. As of Monday, the Vatican has ordered all Catholic dioceses worldwide to cease showing membership records and registries to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Catholic officials say the order was an effort to prevent Mormons from baptizing by proxy their Catholic ancestors.

Catholic Church members and officials have spit out lots of good reasons and support for this decree. Catholic author Hugh McNichol said that giving out such records could be exposing embarrassing circumstances like a child born out of wedlock or of an unknown father.  [Well… yah!  People have a right to privacy, after all.] McNichol went on to say that this is private information, and "should be considered privileged information by all members of the [Catholic] Church."

If it’s private information, then why would it be issued to arbitrary scholars [What’s an "arbitrary scholar"?   Is this someone who just studies any old thing?  Someone who draws conclusions for no particular reason?] or historians over direct family descendants, if those descendants happen to be LDS? The idea of protecting family secrets is a fair one, but family secrets stay in the family, not the Church. They’re to be preserved only to immediate family lines, not released to Church selected and approved audiences.

Those wishing to access the documents must now prove a "legitimate reason to view these sensitive snippets of a person’s theological history," McNichol wrote. [That sounds reasonable.  Any research library or archive would ask the same.] What more legitimate reason can you get than keeping a continuing documentation of "a person’s theological history"? [A person’s "theological" history…] Or perhaps a better reason is needed before a private institution will release information about an individual to members of their own family.

McNichol even goes as far as to say Mormons taking these names to do baptisms for the dead is "comparable with piracy of a person’s free will and soul as well."

If they really are trying to protect the dead from "piracy of the soul," indulgences might be a better place to start than baptisms.
  [Hardly the same issue, really.]
But the heart of the issue of the Catholic Church’s belief that LDS baptisms for the dead are a "detrimental" practice. Therefore the record keepers are "not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  [Sounds about right to me.]

Smells like fear.  [Try sound common sense.]

If the Mormon Church is true, then part of LDS Church doctrine says that no one who has proxy baptisms done in their behalf is forced to accept the Mormon faith.  [Ehem… so what?] In a 2005 interview with the Associated Press, President Gordon B. Hinckley said that the baptismal rite is only offered to individuals in the afterlife, not required. "So, there’s no injury done to anybody," he said. So what’s the point of preventing baptisms by withholding names if the proxy baptisms don’t harm the individuals? 

And if the Mormon Church isn’t true – as the Catholics assert – and the practice of baptisms for the dead is false doctrine, then why hide the names? Wouldn’t that be like stopping a child from talking to an imaginary friend? Humor the kid; he and his friend aren’t hurting you. And he might have an imaginary army to back him up.  [Because Catholics would believe that to participate in such a thing, to cooperate materially in such a process, would be to cooperate in a rite of a false religion.]

This editorial represents the opinion of The Daily Universe editorial board. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of BYU, its administration or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Are there any priests reading from Atlanta, GA?  Drop me an e-mail.

There is a beautiful tradition for this day, at 1200 noon.  Once upon a time one could obtain this day a plenary indulgence by reciting the Supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii.  The other day for this is the first Sunday of October. 

With the changes to the concessions for indulgences, according to the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, there is no longer any plenary indulgence for this prayer, notwithstanding anything you might see in some old book or on a website.  For example, if you see something about Pope Leo XIII granting an indulgence, etc., that is null and void now.

However, the new Enchiridion says with concession #17, §3 that Marian prayers obtain a partial indulgence under the condition that the prayer is approved by competent authority and that it is recited with fervor in the state of grace (you don’t need confession and Communion within 8 days, nor must you recite the prayers for the Roman Pontiffs intentions for a partial indulgence). You can receive a partial indulgence, by maintaining this beautiful custom of the Supplication today. 

I called the office of the Apostolic Penitentiary in May 2007 to confirm this.

The text of the prayer to recite is below (in English).  The language may seem florid to 21st century ears and tongues but it is vigorous, serious, and super Catholic.  We need more unabashedly fervent prayers like this, friends.  If you have a hard time reciting this, you can listen.  I attached an audio file of the prayer to this entry.

Brief background: This devotion was started by Bl. Bartolo Longo, who had once been a Satanist "priest".  He converted, did penance, and became a lay Dominican. In 1872, Longo, a lawyer, went to Pompeii see to the affairs of Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco. He started there a Confraternity of the Rosary.  They obtained a picture of the Blessed Virgin from a monastery, which before that was in a second hand store, before which they could recite the Rosary every day.  It showed Mary with Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena.  In 1875 Longo received permission to build a church.  Miracles were reported and pilgrimages began.  The picture has been restored several times since then.  Longo also saw tot he building of complex for works of mercy with orphans and prisoners.  Pope John Paul II beatified Bartolo Longo in 1980.  Some of his writings form the basis of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.

You reach the sanctuary easily by walking just a few minutes out the back gate of the ancient ruins of Pompeii, famously destroyed  by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

Here is the prayer to be recited (twice during the year).  It obtains, under the usual conditions, a partial indulgence. 

 

 Supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii, 8 May and 1st Sunday of October [8:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

PETITION TO OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF POMPEII

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I.
O august Queen of victories, Virgin who reignest in paradise, whose mighty name causes heaven to rejoice and hell to tremble, o glorious Queen of the most holy Rosary, we, thy happy children chosen by thy goodness in this century to build thee a temple at Pompeii, kneeling at thy feet on this solemn day to commemorate thy latest triumphs on the spot where idols and demons were formerly worshipped, we pour out with tears the feelings of our hearts and with a filial confidence lay before thee our miseries.

From that throne of mercy where thou sittest as Queen, o Mary, turn down thy pitiful eyes on us, on our families, on Italy, on Europe, and the whole Church; take into pity the afflictions which overwhelm us and the cares which embitter our life. Thou seest, o Mother, how many dangers of soul and body, how many calamities and afflictions press upon us.

O Mother, keep back the arm of justice of thy indignant Son, and conquer by thy mercy the hearts of sinners, since they are our brethren and thy children, redeemed through the blood of our sweet Jesus and through the wounds of thy most tender heart pierced with the sword. Show thyself to all in this day, as thou art, the Queen of peace and mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,...
        -    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
        -    Give me strength against thy enemies.
        -    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
        -    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

II.
It is but too true that we, although thy children, are the first who crucify Jesus in our hearts and wound anew thy heart by our sins. We confess it, we deserve the severest chastisements; yet remember how thou didst receive, on the top of Golgotha, the last drops of that divine blood, and the testament of our dying Redeemer. And this testament of a God, sealed with the blood of a Man-God, appointed thee our Mother, the Mother of sinners. Thus, as our Mother, thou art our Advocate and our Hope. To thee, amidst sighs,  do we lift up our hands, crying for mercy!

Have pity, good mother, have pity on us, on our souls, on our families, on our relations, on our friends, on our departed brethren, above all, on our enemies, and on so many who claim the name of Christians, yet wound the loving heart of thy Son. Pity, o Mother, we now implore thee for pity on the erring nations, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they may repair repentant to thy heart. Be merciful to all, o Mother of mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,...
        -    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
        -    Give me strength against thy enemies.
        -    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
        -    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

III.
What does it cost thee, o Mary, to hear us? What does it cost thee to save us? Did not Jesus entrust to thy hands all the treasures of his graces and mercies? Thou sittest as Queen at the right hand of thy Son, crowned with immortal glory, above all the choirs of angels. Thou extendest thy dominion as far as the heavens expand, the earth and all the creatures that people it are subject to thee. Thy power even reaches hell; and thou alone,  o Mary, canst rescue us from the devil’s grasp. Thou art almighty by grace, and therefore thou canst save us. Now if you sayest thou wilIest not help us because we are ungrateful children and unworthy of thy protection, tell us at least to whom shall we have recourse in order to be released from so many evils? Oh! No, thy maternal heart will never bear to see the ruin of thy children. The divine Child we behold on thy knees, the mystical crown we admire in thy hand, both inspire us with hope that we will be heard. And full of confidence in thee, we throw ourselves at thy feet, we trust ourselves as feeble children into the arms of the tenderest amongst mothers and today, this very day, we expect from thee the graces we are longing for.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,...
        -    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
        -    Give me strength against thy enemies.
        -    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
        -    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us ask Mary for her blessing

We now ask of thee, o Queen, a last favor which thou canst not refuse on this solemn day. Grant to all of us thy constant love and in a special manner thy maternal blessing. No, we will not leave thy feet today nor cease clasping thy knees till thou hast blessed us. Bless now, o Mary, the sovereign Pontiff: to the first laurels of thy crown, to the ancient trophies of the Rosary, whence thou art called Queen of victories, add also this one, o Mother, grant triumph to religion and peace to mankind. Bless our bishop, the priests and particularly those who promote the honor of thy Sanctuary; bless finally all those who are associated to thy new temple of Pompeii and who practice and spread devotion to thy most holy rosary .

O blessed rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love, which connects us with the angels, tower of safety against the assaults of hell, sure harbor in the universal shipwreck, never more shall we part with thee; thou shall be our comfort in the hour of agony: to thee the last kiss of our life; and the last word of our dying lips shall be thy sweet name, o Queen of the Rosary of Valle di Pompei. Mother dear, only refuge of sinners, supreme comforter of the afflicted, blessed be thy name, now and forever, on earth and in heaven. Amen.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,...
         -    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
         -    Give me strength against thy enemies.
         -    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
         -    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Last night Carlos Gomez, a player for my hometown team, the Minnesota Twins, hit for the cycle and I was watching!



A rare event.

The last Twin to hit for the cycle was Kirby Puckett on 1 Aug 1986.

Twins beat the ChiSox in a squeeker … 13-1

Everytime I go to a ball game, or perhaps tune into one on TV, I always havea bouyant sense that maybe, perhaps, something great may happen.  Maybe this is the game when I will see a triple play?  Perhaps this will be a perfect game? 

You never know.

How many of you reading this are connected in some way with the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota?

The poll below is entirely anonymous.  I cannot see any of your personal information.