It is often the case that, no matter how far people may stray, faith is the last thing to flicker out.
Martin Scorsese has coming out a streaming series on four saints: John the Baptist, St. Sebastian, St. Joan of Arc, St. Maximilian Kolbe.
The trailer is intriguing, but I am apprehensive.
I refused to see his movie version of the ghastly novel by Shusaku Endo’s book Silence. I wrote about that HERE.
There is a hollywood tendency. If something or someone is holy, they have to do knock it down. It’s as if they can’t stand that something simply be good. They have to besmirch in some way, as Peter Jackson did in his LotR with Aragorn and Faramir. So, I am apprehensive about what Scorsese has down to these saints.
John the Baptist
Sebastian
Joan of Arc
Maximilian Kolbe
All four are martyrs. Is there another common thread?
Morning sun movement became visible at 06:47. It will disappear from view at 17:00.
Thank you for this day, Lord.
The Ave Maria rings at – according to the errant curial calendar – 17:30. But that’s wrong. It should now be in the 17:15 cycle.
On this dies non I said a Daily Requiem for Poor Souls. As a matter of fact, I just got that intention yesterday, so I brought it to the head of the line.
The Requiem Mass is so beautiful with the Dies Irae.
Quaerens me, sedisti lassus:
Redemisti Crucem passus:
Tantus labor non sit cassus.
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In churchy news…
Catholics voted for the President-elect over VP Harris by a margin of 56% to 41%. pic.twitter.com/8tV5NoneZg
In Florida the abortion amendment was defeated! HERE I know that a great many churches – and there are a lot (of different kinds, splinters) – had NO! signs out.
The late, former Exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, said that demons try to possess politicians. HERE Well… duh! Shall we talk about leaders in the CHURCH?
At National Catholic Register, there is a piece about the mainly American (I think) phenomenon of moving priests so often, allowing a man to be pastor for maybe 12 years and then shoving him out. HERE In the Latin Church’s Code of Canon Law, can. 522 says,
Can. 522 – Parochus stabilitate gaudeat oportet ideoque ad tempus indefinitum nominetur; ad certum tempus tantum ab Episcopo dioecesano nominari potest, si id ab Episcoporum conferentia per decretum admissum fuerit.
So…“A pastor must enjoy/have stability and therefore is fitting that he be appointed for an indefinite period of time”. However, in the next part: “He can be appointed by the diocesan bishop only for a specific period if the conference of bishops will have permitted through a decree.”
The clear intent of the law is that pastors, “the parish priest”, in normal circumstances have a long time in his parish.
Most of the priests I talk to think this appointment for 6 years, with another 6 possible years is terrible. They are just getting into the place and they get moved. When they get to baptize the children of the children they baptized… then they’ve gotten settled. Will some have other opinions? Sure. Are parishes different from each other? Sure. Are there bad fits that have to be adjusted? Sure. But you get the idea.
Most priests I know think that this term limiting of pastors is also a dodge that bishops use so they don’t have to work things through with pastors who are perhaps “troublesome” for them. They just wait them out and move them.
Most priests I know think that moving priests so often over time gives people the idea that the priest isn’t really in charge. They come and go. The lay staff is the stable element.
Therefore, there is no “father” in the parish. This is also part of a war on men and boys, which manifests also in the sanctuary.
Take a look at that piece.
At a substack called WM Review, there is a provocative piece about whether or not, because of the change to the rites of ordination after the Council, we will have validly consecrated bishops in the future.
This question comes up once in a while because it is an important issue and there were significant changes to the rites of ordination of priests and of bishops under Paul VI. The changes to the ordination for priests were concerning enough that John Paul II in 1990 put things back into the rite that Paul VI took out. Rites should make explicit exactly what they are supposed to do. For example, the post-Conciliar Book of Blessings has “blessings” that don’t explicitly bless things with a constitutive blessing (as opposed to an invocative blessing). The forward to the Book of Blessings states that it is trying to eliminate the distinction. Change the rite, you just might change the effect. And WE ARE OUR RITES. How we pray impacts what we believe and, hence, how we live, and vice versa in a complete intertwined loop of influence.
The rites of ordination were significantly changed after Vatican II, so it is entirely normal that one might wonder about them.
HOWEVER… in view of the ordination of priests the late great Michael Davies wrote a book called Order of Melchisedech: A Defence of the Catholic Priesthood – US HERE Davies tackles the changes to the rites after the Council, pointing out the problems. However, he argues that the rites DO ordain validly despite the changes. That said, he also brings up the issue of the intent of the ordaining bishop. Folks… I am working from my memory about Davies’ book, which I read a long time ago. If I put my foot wrong there, please correct me. Davies argues (I think) that so long as the bishop has the correct theology of priesthood, ordination, etc., then the rite is just within the bounds of valid. However, if over time the theology of priesthood and ordination is eroded through modernist machinations – and believe you me that is EXACTLY what they tried to do to us in seminary in the 1980’s! – then all bets are off. In any event, the WM Review pieces comes down on the side of invalidity. I don’t agree.
However, this is a question that will not go away easily. Why? I mentioned my seminary in the USA. I did two years of hard time at the hell-hole that was the Saint Paul Seminary in the late 80’s. I finished in Rome. However, we were not to use the word “priest” (which we called “the P word”), because we are all “ministers”, some ordained and some non-ordained. In our class which was supposed to be on Priesthood and Eucharist, but which was called something like Ministry and Symbol, we were told, that – I am not making this up –
“when the ordained minister says the words of institution [not consecration] over bread and wine no real change takes place – they become a symbol of the unity of the community gathered there in that moment.”
Yup. Really.
How many things are wrong with that?
I objected. I asked how that jived with transubstantiation. The heretic priest – who left the priesthood to shack up with a female seminary faculty member after celebrating the invalid marriage ceremony of disgraced musician David Haas – replied that the Church no longer teaches transubstantiation. I asked when that happened. Vatican II. I asked why Paul VI, after Vatican II, wrote in his 1965 encyclical Mysterium fidei said the opposite and that we have to use “transubstantiation”. He became furious. He said I was locked up in irrelevant Aristotelean categories, blah blah blah. I responded: “I grew up Lutheran. Even Lutherans believe more than you.” Soon after, the rector had a heart attack. This heretic became rector. He threw me out the next day. It was after that, on the advice of a priest friend, that I pray to the Little Flower St. Thérèse for help. The next day I received signs of roses all day long. That night, the Auxiliary Bishop (now a retired Archbishop) called me with the news that I was not being thrown out. (This is why I have a wreath of roses on my chalice.)
But did you get what that heretic said? For him, the Eucharist symbolized, but not in a real way, the unity of the community (not the Body Blood Soul Divinity of Christ), gathered there (just localized) in that moment (not in an enduring way such that you would reserve it in a tabernacle). That’s worse than Rahner’s bizarre ideas about sacraments celebrating pre-existing realities!
But that’s not all! What danger could these heretic jerks have had for the knowledge and faithful of future priests and future bishops?
Channeling his inner Schillebeeckx, there are no priests in the sense of sacramentally ordained. The community calls forth presiders for their “eucharist” (see above for what he believed about eucharist!) who embody who the community is. As the community changes, or the one called forth changes, that person returns to the assembly and another is called forth to preside.
THAT’s what we got in seminary in the 1980’s.
So … is there any reason ever to wonder about the intention of some men who were formed for priesthood in those years?
Yes. However, those notions I wrote above are so weird, so far out, that very few men indeed would buy them and remain a priest for any length of time after ordination. Very few. And it would be unlikely that men believing that complete crap would be made a bishop.
It certainly has happened that there were some – maybe now are – some bishops with such screwy ideas. I have in mind one in the Amazon…. and I don’t mean my wish list. But are there bishops who have zero connection to authentic Catholic theology of priesthood and ordination. It would have to be demonstrated to me with solid proofs and not just claims because the bishop is … sub-optimal in some ways.
Jesus founded our Church. Jesus will take care of our Church. That doesn’t mean that the Church will survive “woke” in the USA or in the Amazon or in Rome! It means that Jesus will maintain the Church in some form with valid sacraments – valid Holy Orders – no matter what is inflicted on her from without or from within. Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!
9. There are, however, Venerable Brothers, a number of reasons for serious pastoral concern and anxiety in this very matter that we are now discussing, and because of Our consciousness of Our Apostolic office, We cannot remain silent about them.
False and Disturbing Opinions
10. For We can see that some of those who are dealing with this Most Holy Mystery in speech and writing are disseminating opinions on Masses celebrated in private or on the dogma of transubstantiation that are disturbing the minds of the faithful and causing them no small measure of confusion about matters of faith, just as if it were all right for someone to take doctrine that has already been defined by the Church and consign it to oblivion or else interpret it in such a way as to weaken the genuine meaning of the words or the recognized force of the concepts involved.
11. To give an example of what We are talking about, it is not permissible to extol the so-called “community” Mass in such a way as to detract from Masses that are celebrated privately; or to concentrate on the notion of sacramental sign as if the symbolism—which no one will deny is certainly present in the Most Blessed Eucharist—fully expressed and exhausted the manner of Christ’s presence in this Sacrament; or to discuss the mystery of transubstantiation without mentioning what the Council of Trent had to say about the marvelous conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body and the whole substance of the wine into the Blood of Christ, as if they involve nothing more than “transignification,” or “transfinalization” as they call it; or, finally, to propose and act upon the opinion that Christ Our Lord is no longer present in the consecrated Hosts that remain after the celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass has been completed.
12. Everyone can see that the spread of these and similar opinions does great harm to belief in and devotion to the Eucharist.
Have you PRAYED for a good outcome? The best possible outcome that will benefit the nation spiritually and materially (if that is what God wills)?
Have you also prayed to ask the Holy Angels to prevent interference from the fallen angels when it comes to anything electronic used in the election results? Demons are really good with electronic things.
I didn’t see it take place, but assuredly the sun rose on Rome at 6:46. It will set at 17:01.
The Vatican calendar is again screwed up. My records show that the Ave Maria was to change from its 17:30 cycle – 22 Oct – 4 Nov) yesterday to its 17:15 cycle (4-20 Nov). What to do? What to do about a bell that ought to ring, but never does… except at Ss Trinità – aka The Parish™?
Thank you for this day, O Lord.
If you are paying attention also to the auxiliary calendar in the back of the Traditional Missal, in the section for propers “in some places… aliquibus locis” there is a Mass today for the Feast of All Relics. It is certainly relic seasons, given the proximity to All Saints and All Souls and the theme of November being the Four Last Things.
Relics be the instruments of miracles, physical and spiritual. They are sacred. Poor care of a reliquary with a relic in it is sacrilege. Relics must not be sold. That’s a serious sin.
I am mindful today and grateful for the apostolate of my good friend Fr. Carlos Martins, whose Treasures of the Churchhas brought countless thousands of people into contact with holy relics, resulting in conversions and healings. At present he is taking a major relic of St. Jude the Apostle to different parishes in the United States, a real labor of love.
At The Parish™ we had a solemn displaying of the relics preserved there. I made a video. It’s a lovely event. In a way it is like looking at our Family Album together, for they are already in the family of Heaven and they are waiting for us.
All the parishes used to do in Rome once upon a time. No one does it anymore. I thought it was unique in Rome other than in Lent when in St. Peter’s many relics are exposed and the Veil of Veronica is displayed. However, I found some music written for Ostentatio Reliquiarum by one Cardinal Albrect Brandenburg. So, it was done elsewhere. Makes sense.
Speaking of family, yesterday at The Parish™ we had a Solemn Requiem for the 30th day from the burial of our friend and confrere in the Archconfraternity, Gian Carlo Ciccia. After the Mass we sand Vespers… and Matins… and Lauds…. it was really long. The music for the Mass was splendid, the Requiem for 6 voices by Tomás Luis de Victoria (+1611). There were also instruments.
Nice people! Great service!
Friends, taking this is was like being transported back to the early 17th century to see precisely what they would have done. The Guardiani of the Archconfraternity were in their habits and in the sanctuary, where they received Communion. The music was period and appropriate for the ritual and architecture. Victoria also spent time as a musician in Rome, so it was a Roman venture. Would you like to participate in a bit of it? Perhaps the Requiem?
The repetition of the ritual, so long used, so finely tuned and thought through by our forebears is a sacred action, an act of Religion, which brings great solace. The traditional Requiem Mass might be ornamented with more or less magnificent vestments, in a more or less magnificent setting, for a more or less famous person, rich or poor, powerful or small. We come into the world the same way and we go forth as well. All alike, we go before our Creator, the Just Judge, the King of Fearful Majesty. The older form of the Requiem doesn’t have lots of options, as the Novus Ordo does. The Novus Ordo, full of options, aims at being adapted, tailored, to make it express what we want to express. The Vetus Ordo reflects what Holy Church – the greatest expert on humanity there has ever been or will be – know what we really need, what it best for us, in particular for the person who is deceased: prayers for the person’s soul, relief from Purgatory, swift access to Heaven. That is the point of a Requiem: the deceased. The deceased is the point, but we are not excluded. We know that, with the older Rite, in our own time we will be prayed for in this most power and efficacious way. We know that we will receive what the Church knows what is best for us in that state: prayers, penances, indulgences.
It’s a matter of priorities.
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In churchy news….
Eccles posted the WINNERS of the 2024 World Cup of Synod Jargon. HERE
GOLD MEDAL for “forgiveness in the name of all the baptised for the sins against synodality”
SILVER for “the principle of circularity that animated the whole synodal process” https://t.co/tw0Di0aBtg
I wonder what the Holy See gets from the China deal that hasn’t been disclosed.
Also, because the Indonesian bishop declined to be made a Cardinal, Archbishop Battaglia of Naples has been chosen. Why he wasn’t chosen in the first place is a little baffling… it’s NAPLES after all, and not the one in Florida. The new Cardinal-elect has a reputation of being quite anti-mafia. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Los Angeles is not a Cardinal. And I am not a Monsignor. Heck, I’m 65 now! There should be a world-wide movement.
The monks of Le Barroux in S. France make excellent wine. Help them and you help yourselves!
Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.
I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.
As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.
If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.
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In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave and incurable.
Pray for me, for my circumstances and wisdom in my decisions.
Also, I received this note:
I also humbly ask for your prayers for [our 8 year old son] Patrick. He has a lesion on his brain and is at the Children’s Hospital.
Patrick loves all things military and firefighters. For All Hallow’s Eve he wanted to be God’s GI Joe: Chaplain Emil Kapaun. This was his second time to learn about and dress up as Fr. Kapaun.
We are asking you to join us in asking Servant of God Chaplain Emil Kapaun to walk this journey of unknowns with Patrick and if it be in God’s Holy Will to heal Patrick, we ask this through the intercession of Fr. Kapaun. I cannot link the website with the novena to Fr. Kapaun, but there is one on his website.
Thank you.
We appreciate all prayers for Patrick and our family.
All for Jesus, Amen!
Please stop and pray here and now for this little boy.
For Your glory and praise, Almighty and merciful God, and to increase faith in You and Your Church, through the intercession of Servant of God Emil Kapaun, I beseech You, that You grant a sudden, complete and lasting miraculous healing for little Patrick, suffering from a lesion on his brain and for whatever other ailment by which he may be affected. I ask this in the Most Holy Name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
When the sun rose at 6:43 , I was already up. I will still be up at 17:04 when it sets.
Today the Ave Maria would ring at 17:30. IT RANG AT THE PARISH PRECISELY AT 17:30!
It is the 4th Sunday remaining after Epiphany resumed to fill the gap of Sundays at the end of the liturgical year.
Lord, thank you for this Sunday.
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For centuries the Archconfraternity of Ss.ma Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti, founded by St. Philip Neri, on the first Sunday of the month conducted full Forty Hours Devotion. As the Archconfraternity is being renewed, the members on 1st Sundays have begun spending an hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, using prayers from Forty Hours. Brick by brick. Today was also a day when food and money was collected to feed the poor.
You can see some of them in red habits. It is also a treat to hear the extremely rare little 17th century portative organ which was discovered in a cubbyhole and lovingly restored.
Also, this occurred in first 8 days of November, and so the church is arranged for prayers for the Poor Souls, which includes absolution of the catafalque and Masses for the Dead.
From lunch on All Saints with The Great Roman™. (He had to finish it). Rigatoni and sauce of coda alla vaccinara.
Like these photos? Thank DM for the new phone and better camera.
An Italian Army band was getting ready for something this morning. Piazza Farnese on my way to The Parish’s™ Solemn Mass.
Before Mass.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – UK HERE WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful. This is important to me. Takes you a few seconds more.
Let us continue to pray for his safety and release. He offered himself in place of two seminarians who were about to be kidnapped, during evening prayers. Such great love from Fr. Thomas. https://t.co/SOBpsF2qWN
The Collect for the 31st Ordinary Sunday, which was in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary, is also found in the Extraordinary Form on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost.
Omnipotens et misericors Deus, de cuius munere venit, ut tibi a fidelibus tuis digne et laudabiliter serviatur, tribue, quaesumus, nobis, ut ad promissiones tuas sine offensione curramus.
Servio, “to serve”, is very rarely found in the passive. We must break “that it be served in reference to You” down into “that You be served”.
Offensio (related to offendo) concerns “a striking against, a stumbling”. It is also “an offense” and “that which causes one to offend or sin” as in a lapis offensionis (a “stumbling-block” cf 1 Pet. 2:8). Offendo, by the way, can also mean “to meet by chance”.
Munus means, first, “a service, office, post”. Synonyms are officium and ministerium.
These are the key words in dispute in the matter of Benedict XVI’s resignation.
Some say that Benedict wanted only to resign the active administration of the Diocese of Rome and of the universal Church, the ministerium, without resigning the munus, the office of Vicar of Christ. However, the terms ministerium and munus, what they mean in relation to each other, is really murky.
For a more clarity about munus we can go to our dictionaries. On the other hand, we must in any event go by how they are used in Church documents.
I was at one time pretty sure that munus and ministerium were specific and meant obviously different things. Then I read a paper written by a serious canonist about the problematic meanings of munus, ministerium and officium written back in 1989, long before 2013 and this controversy. It was written by (future) Cardinal Peter Erdõ, considered papabile now. Divine providence? (Cf. ERDÖ, “Ministerium, munus et officium in Codice iuris canonici”, in Periodica, 1989, pp. 411-436.) It’s in Latin.
Bottom line, between the uses of the three terms in the 1917 Code, Vatican II, and the 1983 Code, according to Erdõ, there is confusion. It is hard to fix definitions that don’t overlap to the point that they are sometimes interchangeable. More work is needed on the problem.
However, in this post we are dealing with a liturgical text, not a canonical text.
When we drill into munus, our thoughts turn right away to a Greek equivalent leitourgia, a needed civic work or service one performs because he ought to for the sake of society; whence our word “liturgy”.
In the New Testament munus/leitourgia points to concepts such as taking up collections for the poor (i.e., what man does for man) and religious services (what man does for God).
Munus also means “a present, gift”.
Moreover, munus is a theologically loaded word, indicating among other things the three offices (tria munera) which Christ passed to His Church, the Apostles and their successors: to teach, to govern, to sanctify. Prophet – King – Priest.
When the Lord gives us commands (and He does, e.g., love one another as I have loved you; pick up your Cross and follow me; be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect; do this in memory of me, etc.), we can sum them up in the two-fold commandment of love of God and of neighbor.
All followers of Jesus have been given a two-fold munus to fulfill which reflects the three munera Christ gave to the Church’s ordained priesthood.
I invite you to try an experiment. See what happens to your perception of the Collect if you make munus mean “office” rather than “gift.”
While reading it, hearing it, can you keep both concepts simultaneously in mind?
LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Almighty and merciful God, from whose gift it comes that You be served by the faithful worthily and laudably, grant us, we beseech You, that we may run toward Your promises without stumbling.
This Collect gives me the image of a person hurrying to fulfill a duty or command given by his master or superior. He is rushing, running. He might even be carrying a heavy burden. While dashing forward, he strives to be careful under his burden lest he stumble, fall, lose or ruin what he carries.
Isn’t this how we live our Christian vocations?
God has given us something to do while in this vale of tears.
When we discern God’s will and do our best to live well according to our state in life, we will experience heavy burdens. Our human nature is wounded and there is an Enemy who hates and tempts us. When we are faithful to our vocations, we receive many opportunities to participate in carrying the Cross of Jesus. We also are offered all the actual graces we need to do so.
The Lord Himself told us, through the Gospels, that if we want to be with Him, we must participate in His Cross, even daily (Luke 9:23). During His Passion, our Lord literally carried His (and our) Cross. As He was driven by the soldiers over the uneven road, as careful as He must have been, He stumbled and fell.
We stumble and fall, though not like our sinless Lord. We stumble mostly by choice.
In this Collect do we hear an echo of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer? “Lead us not into temptation.”
There is a diabolical Enemy Tempter who desires us to fall and to give offense to the Lord. The Enemy places obstacles before our feet.
That one – the Enemy – we do not want to meet with, even by chance. Or by intention! Avoid avoid AVOID all things having to do with the occult or idols of false religions. They are gateways for the Enemy to get at you. In addition, regularly make use of sacramentals and go to confession often. Along with those, make good holy Communions and the Devil will have little to say to you.
It is inconceivable that God would give us something to do and then not give us the means to achieve it.
As we draw closer to the end of this liturgical year, during this Sunday’s Mass Father prays that we run, rather than drag along, toward the reward of heaven. We beg God that we do so without mishap. We beg not to give offense by what we do. We ask that the road be made free of stumbling blocks for our running feet.
Run! Watch for those stumbling blocks but run!
Don’t drag along, moping, resentful of your lot. Our reward is not here in this vale of tears. Heaven is our goal.
Help your struggling neighbor.
Our Lord understands the craggy road we travel. He never abandons us, even when we stumble in sin.
CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Almighty and merciful God, by whose gift your faithful offer you right and praiseworthy service, grant, we pray, that we may hasten without stumbling to receive the things you have promised.
As a final note. I have studied and written about the prayers for the Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo Sunday formularies for many years, beginning in the 1990’s. Over time I’ve noted how the Novus Ordo prayers tend to stress the eschatological joy of Heaven. If the orations were taken from the Vetus Ordo or old sources, they were often edited to eliminate references to guilt, sin, propitiation, etc.; “negative” things.
Some will claim that the Vetus Ordo prayers dwell on those “negative” elements too much without pointing towards the joy of Heaven. I disagree.
There is nothing wrong in itself with stressing the “positive”, the attainment of Heavenly joy in our prayers for Mass.
However, in the Traditional Latin Mass our prayers also stress how to attain Heaven. That’s something that the Novus Ordo version do not do all that well. We have to deal with sin, with guilt. We have to consider Christ’s propitiation. We must highlight the Sacrifice even while we recognize and long for the Banquet.
Above, I wrote that God would not give us something to do (i.e., live in such a way that we can have the joy of Heaven) without giving us also the means to attain it (i.e., graces, a Savior who made a propitiatory Sacrifice). Similarly, Holy Church holds out for us the goal of Heaven in our prayers. Similarly, Holy Church should also tell us how to get there. We absolutely must deal with our fallen nature, our personal sins. We need penance.
Hence I repeat my phrase, “We are our rites!”
How we pray, affects what we believe, which affects in turn how we pray and how we live, which again affects what we believe and therefore how we live and pray… it’s all constantly intertwined. Lex orandi et lex credendi et lex vivendi. Change the prayers and, over time, you change what we as Catholics believe and, as a consequence, how we live, privately and in the public square.
So, how is that going after the last 50 some years?
Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this traditional 4th Sunday remaining after Epiphany, or, in the Novus Ordo, the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time?
Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Their situation in the storm was like to the end of the world. However, it was also like to the beginning of the world, when there were waters of chaos.
In Genesis God spoke a Word over the chaotic waters and order was the result. In Matthew’s account amidst the chaotic, boat-swamping waters of Galilee, the Word Incarnate Jesus speaks to the wind, rebuking it, to the sea, calming it. In this calming of winds and waters, Jesus revealed Himself to be God.
This episode also ties Christ to the figure in Ps 107, in which frightened people in a storm on the waters, probably also fisherman, cry to God for help. The Lord delivers them.
There’s more peril in this Sunday, but hidden behind the Collect, the first oration of the Mass which goes back to the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604).
Here’s a clip from a “premium content” video for some Roman Sojourn Donors. It’s nothing special, just part of my morning walk through the area to get some food stuffs for the day and to say hello to a few people as the day gets underway. And a splendid day it was in Rome.
Thank you, Lord, for this day, when the sun rose at 6:42 and when the sun will set at 17:05.
The Ave Maria has a couple more days in the 17:30 cycle.
Today is All Souls. It is not a feast. It is not a day of precept (obligation). However, you can gain indulgences for praying for the dead in this 8 day period.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – UK HERE WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
I’ll make a video of the formal displaying of the relics and post the link when it is ready.
In church this morning…
How to make lunch in Rome.
Buy pizza bianca.
Buy mortadella with black truffle.
Assemble like this.
In churchy news…
Too beautiful not to share…
This beautiful depiction of a Requiem Mass is a cutting from a 15th-century French Book of Hours (eastern France, perhaps Besançon). While the schola sings the Gregorian chant, a mourner in a dark robe approaches the altar, where the priest presents the paten for him to kiss,… pic.twitter.com/lCkf8Ju1Uc
This is interesting from the great canonist Ed Peters
Holy days of obligation occasion disregard for canon law in the VAST majority of Catholics, provoke anxious consciences in a small but notable number of others, and augment the devotion of the devout not a whit. Abrogate the obligation and restore holy days to their proper date.
While one of the corporal works of mercy is to bury the dead, one of the spiritual works of mercy is the pray for the dead.
November is dedicated in a special way to this important work, the first 8 days of the month in particular.
To encourage this good work, Holy Church – being a good Mother – prompts her children by enriching these days of 1-8 November with indulgences.
Indulgences are for the remittance of temporal punishment after death in Purgatory due to sins we commit in this life and for which we have not done adequate penance.
Indulgences are not for the forgiveness of those sins.
Digression….
Sins are, in the way Christ desired, ordinarily forgiven the Sacrament of Baptism, at first, and then through the Sacrament of Penance. In certain circumstances the Sacrament of Anointing can effect forgiveness of sins. There are extraordinary moments with acts of perfect contrition can result in forgiveness. However, Christ gave us a Sacrament precisely for this matter and that is what He intends for our ordinary circumstances. He gave it to us so that we would USE IT. So…
GO TO CONFESSION!
Going to confession is also what you need to do to gain indulgences.
For the November indulgences for praying for the dead, what do you need to do? After all, this is a good “work”. You have to do something.
Here are some bullet points.
Visit a cemetery, and
Pray for the deceased, for the “poor” souls in Purgatory.
To receive the plenary indulgence, the usual conditions must also be met:
Be in the state of grace and – for a plenary indulgence – free from all attachment to sin, even venial sins (which requires an act of will… more on that HERE).
Receive Holy Communion
Receive Sacramental Confession (within 20 days)
Pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff (that is, for the intentions designated by the Supreme Pontiff)
The classic intentions of the Supreme Pontiffs have traditionally been (more about this HERE):
The curial calendar suggest that the sun rose at 06:41. 06:42 is more accurate. But, hey! The sun will set, according to the same, at 17:06.
The Ave Maria is at 17:30.
This is the Feast of All Saints, a Holy Day of Obligation and a (canonical) Solemnity. Hence, although it is Friday, today you are not obliged by the Latin Church’s law to fast or abstain.
I think I’ll make a cheeseburger. Alas, I can’t get really good pickles at any place nearby.
Apartment report: Yesterday I saw a different place, not quite as close to The Parish™ but not really all that far. A rather prestigious street, in view of a a place which is constantly guarded by police. I am optimistic. St. Joseph! Guide this with your benevolence, asking from God what is best.
Lord, for the day, I thank you. And on this Feast of All Saints, prompt with Your graces all those who read this to be saintly in their earthly lives so they can enjoy the joys of Heaven with the holy angels and our brothers and sisters in the Church Triumphant.
Yesterday I went to the clerical shops for errands. I had to go to Gammarelli to figure out that white pianeta situation. Then Barbiconi for clerical shirts for a stateside priest friend. I remembered that I need a red cincture to replace the one that is all used up.
Some fabrics. Meh.
Hi from the happy elephant.
Hi from a bored cat.
I saw this truck outside my place and thought it worthy of a share.
“Hands dirty from work give off the scent of dignity.”
I wasn’t able to track down the source of this quote in a short amount of time so I gave up. However, something similar is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. It strikes me as a communist thing, although it is redolent – if you get me – of something that John Paul II would have written about the dignity of work in Laborem exercens. Remember John Paul II?
The other day I had a meeting with a woman who was the silver restorer for famous museum collections in London. She taught me something about cleaning gold and silver vessels. The first thing I already knew from my silver/goldsmith who made my chalice. Use only 99% isopropyl alcohol (or very high). She told me also to use acetone. Fingerprints are really bad for gold plating. So, get them off! There is also a special wax for polishing that will protect the gold and silver. She said to use also Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish, a tiny amount on a silver cloth. US – HERE UK – HERE It was quite a useful conversation. So… FATHERS! Clean the gold cup of your chalice (when needed) with high purity alcohol! (Vodka won’t work.) In general, don’t let sacristans or kind ladies who volunteer anywhere NEAR your chalice.
The weather here should be perfect for the rest of my stay. Thus say the forecasts.
On this 305th day of the calendar year and the 31st of my Roman Sojourn, the sun rose at 06:40. It will set at 17:07. Such short days, each shorter.
The Ave Maria ought to ring at 17:30 for a few more days before the cycle changes.
Thank you for this day, O Lord.
Apartment sleuthing news: I have consulted with the wonderful rather senior lady with the realty agency in the area. I have suspected a rat about the place I had been looking at. However, they found me another possibility that will work very well, though it won’t be as luminous. It will have a very quiet address, across from a place guarded by the police, with a small interior courtyard I can use freely. The rent is good. Ground floor. I had yesterday in a Holy Votive Mass of St. Joseph asked for help again. He is so powerful as an intercessor and he was my guy when, some time ago, I needed a place with urgency. I am hopeful. The next few days will tell. If it goes, I’ll let you know. The way I figure, even if I cannot spend a great deal of time here, it’ll still be less expensive in the long run than the way I am doing it now. Sure, my place now is really nice. But, damn.
Please say a prayer for this, perhaps quickly, to St. Joseph: Help Fr. Z with his apartment project.
Since it is Reformation Day, we might observe it by checking out a book about Martin Luther. It was written by someone just a couple decades after Luther, hence firmly within living memory. It was originally in French, vetted by the University of Paris, and then Latin. The title (with apologies to a priest friend and piper) is:
The Devil’s Bagpipe: The True Life of Martin Luther by James Lang (Author) and Fr. Robert Nixon (Translator)
It is a short read, but packed, as is consistent with writers before the age of word processors.
On 1 Nov, All Saints at The Parish™, there will be an exposition of the relics here. The World’s Best Sacristan this morning was doing some work on reliquaries of St. Erasmus, martyr and St. Agapitus, martyr.
Something is definitely afoot. Maybe this saint can help with my pied-à-terre?
Spotted last night at the Campo… at the bar restaurant “Eretico” next to the statue of the heretic Giordano Bruno.
They are also against spelling.
Something has to be done about the pedana at the vestment cases in the sacristy. It is getting really bad and one day it is going to hurt someone.
Last night I wanted chicken… so I made chicken.
Thank you to a reader who made it possible to get bottles of hot sauce from my amazon wish list before I came over. US – HERE I brought a couple. It was a nice addition to the chicken.
In churchy news… after the end of walking together about walking togetherity there is a 3 days of darkness … conference on walking together about walking togetherity. HERE
“From the Council to the Synod: Rereading a Church’s Journey, 60 Years on Since Lumen Gentium (1964–2024)” — was hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from Oct. 28–30.
The Roman Church for centuries observed a vigil before the Feast of All Saints.
All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation. Make a plan.
We Roman fast before our feasts. The fast was intended also as a way to help the poor, in that it was a time also to deny one’s self and give alms not from one’s excess, but from one’s own need. Vigils – which are penitential – were/are held before feasts and ordinations and also for the sake of pressing petitions. In the Roman Rite the Masses were somewhat simplified and shorn of more joyous elements, for example, no Gloria, Alleluia or Ite.
On 30 October, after the priests have said their usual morning Masses, The World’s Best Sacristan is already setting up Missals and vestments for observance of the Vigil, though strictly speaking it is not in the 1962 calendar. That said, if the Triduum can be used from earlier books and if new saints since 1962 can be incorporated into the older schedule, there shouldn’t be a compelling reason to be worked up about saying the Vigil of All Saints rather than texts of … whatever, since it is a “dies non“. What? A Mass for of Alfonso Rodriguez, SJ (+1617) with the common of a confessor? A Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit? Why not the Vigil, in the true Roman style?
We are our rites… and we are flexible and reasonable.
As Schuster wrote of this day:
When we pray to the saints in heaven they do as Joseph did when his brothers arrived in Egypt. He went before Pharaoh and, full of joy, announced : Fratres mei et domus patris mei . . . venerunt ad me. And the King out of love for Joseph gave to them the land of Gessen.
COLLECT:
Dómine, Deus noster, multiplica super nos grátiam tuam: et, quorum prævenimus gloriósa sollémnia, tríbue subsequi in sancta professione lætítiam.
Multiply Your grace upon us, O Lord our God, and grant that by our holy profession of faith we may attain to the bliss of those whose glorious celebration we anticipate.
Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, formalized a new policy this year banning priests from using their smartphones in the confessional.
The fact is, these phones are really sophisticated and you can never quite shut them down. And they are listening. They are sensing your movements. They are watching through lenses. They do these things to know when to “wake up” for use, or to shovel ads at you. I saw a couple of videos recently on what they phones do when they are “asleep” or “turned off”.
Dear friends.. if priests should not take phones into confessionals, then NEITHER SHOULD YOU!
On 30 October, after the priests have said their usual morning Masses, The World’s Best Sacristan™ is already setting up Missals and vestments for observance of the Vigil on the 31st, though strictly speaking it is not in the 1962 calendar.
The purple vestments at The Parish™ seem to be in good shape. I don’t think we will need a Purple Project. However, it is possible that The World’s Best Sacristan™ put out one of the better ones here.
Recently I’ve said Masses from DMcN, from AS, from LK, from DvH, from EW, from VD, from FQ, from AW, from TE… upcoming… from JF, from LD, from SH. I have also said Masses for my parents and my benefactors.
Apartment news… I am anxious.
I went to see a place and there were EIGHT other people there to see it, which was an annoying surprise. There is something not altogether right with the paperwork and the way this is being done and I am perplexed. I have an expert realtor giving me a hand to maneuver in these waters.
Meanwhile… please, someone, send me 2,000,000 euro so I can buy instead of rent and be rid of this … thing. A little help. Thanks.
In the meantime…
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – UK HERE WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Yes, that can be filed under “churchy news”, particularly because we need pastors of souls to say what is what.
The Bernini baldichin over the main altar of St. Peter’s was cleaned.
“Trick or treat!” Francis again cut the salaries of the cardinals who live in Rome. HERE It seems that people – mainly Americans – aren’t giving like they used to.
Remember Barry’s war on the Little Sister of the Poor? To force them by fining them to pay for contraception, etc., for employees? (The late Charles Krauthammer quipped that it was bad optics; after all, they were picking on the Little Sisters of the Poor … not even the Big Sisters of the Middle Class). He is missed. A great chess player, too. At The Federalist there is a piece about what an future dem admin in the White House would do to Churches under the Queen of Abortion.
Speaking of the Queen of Abortion, did you see the photos of her with that hideous anti-Catholic drag perv group in California – the one that the traitorous dogs of the Dodgers snuggled up to and only Bp. Strickland of the bishops protested? I can’t tell which I dislike more, the Yankees or the Dodgers. However, I know what I think about the Queen of Abortion and her crowd.
Speaking of the Yankees and the Dodgers…
This… I’ve never seen.
In other news…
This is the most blatant fan interference in the history of not only the World Series but of all sports.
The Carmelites in Texas have been booted out of the officially recognized consecrated religious life for bucking the system. HERE I suspect they just wanted to be left alone and things got out of hand. Pretty sad.
The Archbp. of Cincinnati has cut diocesan ties with the Girl Scouts because of their twisted gender trash. Good for him. HERE
The Diocese of Jefferson City (Missouri, for those of you in Columbia Heights) has issued a list of banned hymns! It isn’t nearly long enough. I have suggestions. But it is a good thing. HERE I noted with pleasure that anything by David Haas is a no no. “Dear Father, do you have a reason for such a thought?” Yes, apart from the fact that he lived with us at my US seminary and we suffered his music in agony, he was a heretic and perv. So, yeah… no music by him.
Succeeded by Nanino and Giovanelli, Palestrina is one of the Roman greats along with Tomas Luis de Victoria and Orlando de Lassus. His tomb is somewhere in St. Peter’s Basilica. They aren’t sure exactly where.
Along with being the master of the choirs of the Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and the Cappella Sistina, Palestrina also directed at The Parish™.
Last Sunday for the Feast of Christ the King, a choir from London was in town. They sang one of Palestrina’s most important works the Missa Papae Marcelli, which touches the very heights of the polyphonic music which at the time of the Council of Trent was hotly debated.
Look what they are doing… look especially at the names of the groups coming to sing:
Remember Floriani? They were on a pilgrimage I had a role in. HERE These guys have got game. But look… The Tallis Scholars… Gesualdo Six… good grief.
This is very exciting stuff. I shall have to make a pilgrimage to Grand Rapids for at least one of these.
The Vatican entrusts the Jubilee to a gay pride and sex toy designer.
by Andrea Zambrano
Just introduced and already in the storm: the mascot “Luce” for the Jubilee 2025 not only resembles Greta Thunberg, but was created by the designer Simone Legno, very active with his brand “Tokidoki”. And who in his collection has produced gadgets for Gay pride and a line of vibrators. Is it possible that the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Monsignor Fisichella did not know this?
[…]
UPDATE: 30 October 2024
HOWEVER… on my way to church I pass by the Palazzo Spada. On the pavement by the building are potted plants. One of them was moved a while back to reveal an icon – like a mascot figure of pilgrim – from a Jubilee of some years past. I shot a pic of it today, with pigeon feathers and mozziconi. These showed the visitor of Rome which path to follow from pilgrimage place to place.
Hey? What’s with the non non-specific sex suggestion facial hair? What’s with the staff? It doesn’t look like the reverse of a staff to be used in satanic rites! I hardly know what to say! Although… that hat… could be … a… a…
Once the Church inspired the young with noble models like St. Dominic Savio and his motto “Death rather than sin.” Now we have… whatever the hell this “Luce” thing is. Infantilizing the young with a dumbed down version of Catholicism does them a disservice pic.twitter.com/33dwpdomuo
I note that the Vatican curial calendar is back on track several days after the end of the “ora legale”. Good work guys. The sun rose at 06:37 (if the calendar is to be believed), 7 minutes after I did. It will set at 17:10 well before I go to sleep.
The Ave Maria ought to ring at 17:30. This is the 303rd day of the year. Being a dies non, I said a Votive Mass of the Holy Angels today. I’ve been working my way through Mass intentions sent by readers. However, Sunday was for all my benefactors and yesterday was for my parents. I read in the older Roman Martyrology that today is the feast of Hyacinthus, Quinctus, Felician and Lucius. Not a clue. To get at them, I suppose we have to have recourse to the unwieldly but replete Acta Sanctorum.
It’s remarkable what you can find. Someone did a lot of work to put this online.
Last night at the Campo de’ Fiori The Great Roman™ and I witnessed a protest against how the tourist industry of the restaurants and night spots is disturbing the quarter and making life unpleasant for the locals. I must say that I’ve been better protests. The fact is that the restaurants and bars on the Campo do go on until 2:30 and it gets noisy. And there are not supposed to be musicians (if you can call them that), but the police who are always present do nothing about them.
Some people dressed as “ghosts” came by to help. I’m not sure that they made a big impression. One woman – in the spirit of the thing – stood in front of a restaurant… a good place but which has pushed its tables waaaay out into the piazza… blowing a whistle until she tuckered out. The best moment was when a young man from one of the restaurants came by and said with colorful Romanesco expressions which I mustn’t write here about how those lovely people could resolve their problem by selling their lovely places and moving. The Great Roman™ and I were reduced to giggles for while at the colorful Romanaccio. There is something special about the Roman way of turning a phrase.
Thanks to KA for the cigars. He was missed.
The alstroemeria has not been the very best, so I’ve opted for roses, which Moses still knowses.
The Campo this morning without ghosts. I was on my way home from the fishmonger.
In churchy news, I’ve been getting reactions to the new Jubilee mascot “Luce” (aka …?). Those with whom I have shared it have not yet had anything good to say. One person who is a well-known radio commentator in the upper midwest wrote to me with a link saying: “WTH is this?”
However, I’ve noticed something on TwitterX. I searched “mascot jubilee” and came up with tweets about beeple and cyber trading and chains and hot meme tokens and value and market cap. Does someone out there understand what this is? My spidey sense suggests to me that it has something to do with the anime influence on the image… not to mention Cthulhu (as a commentator pointed out).
Something about the final document of the walking together about walking togetherity: HERE at the National Catholic Register (not to be confused with the Fishwrap)
On this Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude, when some of our thoughts turn to impossible causes, the sun rose NOT at 07:36 as the screwed up Vatican calendar says, but rather at 06:38 at 107° East. It will set, again NOT as the curial calendar suggests at 18:11, but rather at 17:09 at 253° West.
The Ave Maria they got right at the 17:30 cycle which lasts until 4 November.
Speaking of impossible causes, my friend Fr. Carlos Martins is taking the relic of the arm of St. Jude – Apostle of the Impossible – all around the country. I spoke with him the other day: he was in Colorado.
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Fr. Martins has a book coming out. I’ll write about that in a different post. However, you don’t have to wait to get it. The Exorcist Files: True Stories About the Reality of Evil and How to Defeat It. As I write it is available for PRE-ORDER at 20% off! US HERE Card. Burke wrote the forward. I’ve read it. It is highly instructive and practical!
Also with impossible causes, today is my natal day. I’m officially old. It may just have happened that Sts. Simon and Jude came through for me in the apartment search. Something came in the email today which is perfect. I immediately swarmed over to the wonderful octogenarian lady realtor whose shop was miraculously open and with her in it! She was introduced to my by my octogenarian vegetable stand lady. These old ladies in the area know everything and everyone. I’ve been so frustrated with my hunt because no one responds. So, I went into the little office begging for help. She got on the phone and we have an appointment to see the place. It would be perfect.
Today I ask you humbly for prayers for my parents. For my mother in her ongoing struggle with her grave and progressive malady. For my father who, as a text this morning at 4AM indicated, was taken to the hospital for some emergency surgery – which went well. Both are 89.
A prayer please also for me, also an impossible cause. My Jesus, mercy.
Thank you, Lord, for this day.
The tomb of the Apostles Simon and Jude in the Vatican Basilica.
A detail from the Pontifical Mass for the Feast of Christ the King. Some of you will know what is going on here.
After Mass at The Parish™ the incense lingers.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – UK HERE WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Here’s a nice inscription from Saturday at the Pantheon. For me, its the fire extinguisher that really adds dignity to the view.
Getting things laid out for today. In the morning, many priests – some still around for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage – have their Masses. NB: A few of you readers donated for these beautiful red vestments, contributing to the decorum of the sacred liturgy and edification of the faithful and of the priests who wear them.
In churchy news… my friend Robert Royal has a great piece at The Catholic Thing.
Cardinal Müller’s talk for the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage.
The people who put out the three movies about the Traditional Latin Mass have a new offering. (I spotted The World’s Best Sacristan™ in the first minute.
Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
I'm finishing up a batch of Mass intentions right now. I'll have room in my register for more while I am in Rome. Also, I regularly say Mass for my regular benefactors and special Roman Sojourn Donors. HERE for the form I use.
William Tighe on Rome 24/10 – Day 37: Wherein Fr. Z rants: “It’s been years for me as well since I read that Michael Davies booklet, but if I recall correctly he…”
jhogan on Rome 24/10 – Day 37: Wherein Fr. Z rants: “Two comments: If a parish is thriving and growing under a particular pastor, why in heaven’s name would you “kick…”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
HOWEVER… in view of the ordination of priests the late great Michael Davies wrote a book called Order of Melchisedech: A Defence of the Catholic Priesthood – US 
In chessy news… 
If you are paying attention also to the auxiliary calendar in the back of the Traditional Missal, in the section for propers “in some places… aliquibus locis” there is a Mass today for the Feast of All Relics. It is certainly relic seasons, given the proximity to All Saints and All Souls and the theme of November being the Four Last Things.
When the sun rose at 6:43 , I was already up. I will still be up at 17:04 when it sets.
At the end, I rant.
Thank you, Lord, for this day, when the sun rose at 6:42 and when the sun will set at 17:05.
While one of the corporal works of mercy is to bury the dead, one of the spiritual works of mercy is the pray for the dead.
In chessy news…. 
I note that the Vatican curial calendar is back on track several days after the end of the “ora legale”. Good work guys. The sun rose at 06:37 (if the calendar is to be believed), 7 minutes after I did. It will set at 17:10 well before I go to sleep.
William Tighe on Have you prayed for a good outcome for the election? Now, would be a good time.: “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
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