Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Posted on 16 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Novena to the Holy Spirit
From Friday after Ascension Thursday to Vigil of Pentecost
HERE

ASK FATHER: “Ghost” or “Spirit”, which is it? Wherein Fr. Z Rants.

Posted on 22 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Something I’ve wondered about for a while. Old books and hymns have Holy Ghost and new ones have Holy Spirit. I know they are the same third person of the Trinity, but what’s going on with the change?

Good question, especially as Pentecost is a couple days away. This is something I just delved into a bit over at 1 Peter 5 where I post a weekly column. It’s older material, I’ve addressed it before, but repetita iuvant! Repeated things help!

“Holy Spirit” and “Holy Ghost” … which?

It is hardly to be doubted that we English speakers have traditionally used Holy Ghost because of early English translations of Holy Writ, namely the King James (KJV 1611, 1769, etc.) and the Douay-Rheims (DRV OT 1609–1610, NT 1582, revised 18th c.) versions even though both those Bibles use both Ghost and Spirit.

The supremely influential KJV capitalized “Ghost” when it certainly referred to the Third Person of the Trinity. Our English “ghost”, related to German Geist (which is used in German for the Holy Spirit), in its roots is any sort of spirit. “Ghost” is used often to translate Biblical Greek pneuma and Latin spiritus. It became a matter of common parlance and traditional prayers, which people memorized and handed down. We sang and still sing hymns – mighty memory markers – with Ghost.

In short, “Holy Ghost” became archaic because “ghost” changed in common speech over time. “Ghost” narrowed in ordinary English to mean most often an apparition of a dead person, a specter, something haunted or spooky. Meanwhile, “Holy Spirit” became dominant because modern Bible and liturgical translations standardized it. There is also an ecumenical factor. “Holy Spirit” is now the common term across most modern English-speaking Christian bodies, so it became the standard for official and academic theology.

But “Ghost” is still correct and useable, archaic though it may ring.

We should feel free to use archaic words in our prayers, private and congregational.

Prayer should be from and of the heart, but we can use the richness of our language to express ourselves also in solidarity with our forebears.

There’s nothing wrong with using unusual or out of date language in our prayers. To our 21st century ears, it can seem a little flowery, saccharine.

However, this is how our forebears prayed and look what they built as they prayed: pretty much everything we Catholics have today.

When the pointy-headed liturgy experts flattened prayer by updating it to sound more like what we hear at Walmart or on the news, our architecture, vestments, preaching, formation, ars celebrandi, not to mention vocations, have pretty much gone to… you know… the “other place”. Churches were built in the style of municipal airports, vestments were made of plastic with who-knows-what that decoration is, preaching… please… I’ll stop.

Christians have always prayed with stylized language and not humdrum daily parlance. I mean always. The pencil-heads and those who listened to them will justify the deflowering of liturgical and devotional prayer because:

You know, in the ancient church they, you know, changed from Greek to Latin because it was, you know, the language the people spoke, the vernacular. If they could do it then, you know, so should we!

WRONG! When the shift was made from Greek to Latin, it was not to the Latin spoken in the street, as if in a play by Plautus. Liturgical prayer shifted to a highly stylized Latin, a Latin which was decidedly not the “vernacular” (from Latin verna, a native slave born within the house rather than born abroad). “Vernacular” came to indicate national language or mother-tongue. But liturgical Latin was not what was spoken in the houses and streets by our forebears. The choice of the ancient Church was a form of Latin redolent of ancient Roman prayer, filled with ornamental tropes, technical and philosophical vocabulary and images which was, so-to-speak, “baptized” to express an ever-deepening identity and theology.

My WDTPRS offerings here show again and again how rich and structured our orations are, beautiful jewels handed down to us with love. Jewels which the pencil-heads pretty much hacked up.

But that’s another rant.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Ghost
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ASK FATHER: If a bishop and also priests confirm at the same time, who is the minister of confirmation?

Posted on 21 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

This is from the Archdiocesan website,
“Why do priests anoint candidates for confirmation alongside the bishop?
The Sacrament of Confirmation is conferred by the bishop presiding over the liturgy. When there are a
large number of candidates to be confirmed, Church law allows the presiding minister to associate priests
with himself in the celebration of the sacrament, by assisting him with the anointing of the candidates with
chrism. Because these priests are associated with the presiding bishop, the minister of confirmation is the
bishop, rather than the priest assisting him with the anointing.”
In this senecio who is the actual Minister of the Sacrament?

Hmmm… in this senecio…. I’ve never seen confirmation conferred in a patch of ragwort. That’s different. There is also a senecio which in Italian is called “pianta del Rosario… a Rosary plant” because of how its leaves are spaced on tendrils.

That said, I’ll work with the “scenario” (?) you sent.

The claim is mostly accurate, but the conclusion needs improvement.

In the Latin Church, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop. However, a priest who has the faculty to confirm, whether by law or by grant of competent authority, validly confers the sacrament. Can. 882 states: “The ordinary minister of confirmation is a bishop; a presbyter (i.e., priest) provided with this faculty … also confers this sacrament validly.”

Can. 884 is the key text for your ~~senecio~~ … scenario. It says that, if necessity requires, the diocesan bishop may grant the faculty to one or more priests “who are to administer this sacrament.” It also says that, for a grave cause (which can seem a bit “elastic”), the bishop, and even a priest already endowed with the faculty, can “associate presbyters with themselves to administer the sacrament.”

Therefore, when an associated priest anoints a confirmand with chrism and says the sacramental form, that priest is the proximate minister of Confirmation for that confirmand. The bishop remains the ordinary, principal, and presiding minister of the celebration, and the priest acts in association with him and by the necessary faculty. However, the priest is not merely the bishop’s “auxiliary oily thumb” in such a way that the bishop alone is the sacramental minister of each confirmation.

Canon 880 also matters: Confirmation is conferred by the anointing with chrism on the forehead, with imposition of the hand, and the prescribed words. The one who performs that essential sacramental act for a given confirmand is the minister of that sacramental conferral.

The Catechism makes the same distinction. It says the bishop is the “original” and, in the Latin Rite, “ordinary” minister, while priests may be given the faculty to administer Confirmation for grave reasons. It also explains that when a priest confers Confirmation, the link with the bishop is expressed through the priest as the bishop’s collaborator and through chrism consecrated by the bishop. The Compendium states this even more plainly: “When a priest confers this sacrament…,” the episcopal link is expressed through his collaboration with the bishop and the sacred chrism.

So, in the proposed scenario:

For candidates anointed by the bishop: the bishop is the minister.

For candidates anointed by an associated priest: the priest is the minister, acting with the required faculty and in association with the bishop.

Hence, a better formulation of the statement at the top could be:

The bishop is the ordinary and principal minister of Confirmation and presides over the celebration. For a grave cause, he may associate priests with himself to administer the sacrament. Those priests, when they perform the anointing with chrism and pronounce the sacramental form, are true ministers of Confirmation for the candidates they confirm, although they act by faculty and in hierarchical communion with the bishop.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, 1983 CIC can. 915, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged can. 880, confirmation
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ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?

Posted on 21 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Is it a sin to attend Sunday Mass and be irritated during bad homilies or take a 15 minute leave during the terrible homily?

Probably not. However, you can usually tease out some good point from a bad sermon, if you want to.

That said, this “terrible” is pretty open ended. What is “terrible”? Decent content, but terrible/bad delivery? We’ve all had classes/courses from profs who have great material, but are bad teachers/deliverers.

It is bad because of the content? Is there heresy? Is it just plain stupid or irrelevant?

Is it bad because it cannot be heard or understood? Bad sound system? Accent to strong?

Again, you can usually tease out some good point from a bad sermon, if you want to. Sometimes, as Augustine points out in De doctrina christiana, the holiness of the preacher teaches something.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged homily, sermon
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ROME 26/5– Day 56: All that Jasmine… no, not the…

Posted on 20 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At 5:43 the sun rose upon Rome. I was already up (and not because I wanted to be) It will set at 20:31 (I’ll be up then, too).

Were the Ave Maria Bell to ring, it would do so for the Curia at 20:45. But it won’t, just like a lot of things don’t ring in the Curia these days.

I stopped in at Pippo’s and Anastasia’s Flowers in the Campo de; Fiori today after Mass. They told me that they have gotten lots of notes from you readers. I had mentioned the other day to drop them a line: “Ciao da un lettore di don John”. Anastasia said that they received so many they can’t respond to them all. They were delighted. I hope that when people come to Rome and the visit the Campo (they should) they will stop and say “hi”. Anastasia speaks English. info@pippocampodefiori.com

Today is the Feast of St Aurea of Ostia, martyr. St. Monica was first interred in her church before she was moved into Rome to Sant’Augustino.

It is also the Feast of St. Bernardin of Siena (+1444), the most dynamic speaker of his era. He was deeply devoted to the Most Holy Name. Bernardin was a fierce preacher against the sin of sodomy.

For example:

“No sin in the world grips the soul as the accursed sodomy; this sin has always been detested by all those who live according to God.… Deviant passion is close to madness; this vice disturbs the intellect, destroys elevation and generosity of soul, brings the mind down from great thoughts to the lowliest, makes the person slothful, irascible, obstinate and obdurate, servile and soft and incapable of anything; furthermore, agitated by an insatiable craving for pleasure, the person follows not reason but frenzy.… They become blind and, when their thoughts should soar to high and great things, they are broken down and reduced to vile and useless and putrid things, which could never make them happy…. Just as people participate in the glory of God in different degrees, so also in hell some suffer more than others. He who lived with this vice of sodomy suffers more than another, for this is the greatest sin.” (Prediche volgari s. 39)

Another great Saint and Doctor of the Church from Siena, St. Catherine, in her Dialogues (ch 124 her conversations with God), writes that the Enemy, demons, incite people to unnatural sins (homosexual acts) but that they don’t stick around for them to happen, because those acts are too repulsive even for them. Those acts are so contrary to nature that they offend their angelic intellect, even though they are fallen and apostate. They want the sin to take place and they incite it, but it is so offensive to them that they absent themselves when it is happening.

There are those in high and influential roles in the Church who not only excuse and soft-peddle such things, but by their silences and winks and mollifying ways, and open simply openly and relentlessly, promote them. I refer them to St. Bernardin and St. Catherine.

On a far happier note, I wanted some Calabrese for later, so after Mass I stopped at Ruggieri at the Campo. These are some of the delights on hand.

Into the stands!

The jasmine (no, not the Jesuit – speaking of Sts. B and C) is spectacular now and its fragrance is everywhere.

A little farther up the way…

And a little farther…

Pretty impressive. I wonder how many years old that is.

For lunch today, I wanted a BLT and so I made it happen. I got some bacon, which I transformed to crispy goodness. I had a really ripe tomato saved for the purpose. There were salad greens. GREAT mayo. And “pane di Lariano” from Roscioli. This may have been the best BLT I’ve ever had. It’s flaw was that it was too small. I’m tempted as I write to start over.

I assure you…

GCT Superbet Classic Romania 2026, Bucharest continues today. I hope my guy Wesley – with white – will get a win today against MVL, a tall order. MVL is dangerous. “Puer” Firouzja withdrew due to what looked like a nasty ankle injury. I’ve had plenty. I know them when I see them. The games start in a few minutes as I write: HERE

Interim, motus ad lusorem cum militibus albis pertinet. Scaccus mattus, scilicet mors regis, IV in motis veniat.

NB: Detineam explicationes in crastinum, ne vestrae interrumpantur commentationes.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ROME 26/5– Day 54 & 55: double

Posted on 19 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On this 19th day of the month we celebrate Feast day of one counted as a saint, but whom Dante put in Hell for having made “the great refusal”. St. Peter Celestine (+1296)/

Just goes to show that quitting the papacy is not recommended. After Celestine V came Boniface VIII. After Benedict XVI came… well… you remember.

Sunrise today was at 5:44. Sunset: 20:30.

You won’t hear an Ave Maria Bell ring for the Curia at 20:45. It will, however, ring on your ultra-cool Ave Maria Clock App!

It was also the feast of Crispin of Viterbo and Ivo. Yesterday in Rome some of us observed the Feast of St. Felice of Cantalice according to Rome’s proper calendar. Coming up are great saints for Rome, including Giovanni Battista de Rossi and Filippo Neri, both connected to The Parish™.

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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.

The Super Chess Classic Romania is the second stage of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. It is one of two classical chess tournaments, alongside the Sinquefield Cup, of the series. Yesterday we saw the odd sight of young Sindarov playing against “Puer” Firouzja in a hotel room where Puer is laid up with an ankle injury (looks pretty nasty). My guy Wesley has been drawing. He needs a couple wins!

Black mates in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Pagliarani and Leo at Tanagra

Posted on 18 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

While texting with a priest friend recently an idea came up.

Picture if you will…

SSPX Superior Fr. Davide Pagliarani going to the Sant’Anna gate of the Vatican every day asking that Pope Leo grant him an audience.

Rain or shine, there’s Fr. Davide, with an increasing number of people, every day.

They say the Rosary. They sing litanies. They sing the Pro Pontifice chants.

Soon it is live streamed on the interwebs.

Each day larger and larger crowds join in. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands.

They keep it up until …

Posted in SESSIUNCULA, SSPX |
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ROME 26/5– Day 53: Persevere!

Posted on 17 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

5:46 – this was sunrise

20:28 – this was sunset

20:45 – this is for the Ave Maria Bell

St. Paschal Baylón is remembered on his feast day. He was a model of perseverance in pursuing his vocation. He also declined to be pushed into a vocation he did not think he had. He served as a Franciscan brother in the capacity of porter and official beggar.

It is Sunday after Ascension. Today we hear from St. Peter, “above all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covers a multitude of sins.” How often do we fail in mutual charity? Mutual charity. Think about it. I have in mind especially in most obvious situations of marriages, families and friendships. Charity is sacrificial. The one who loves, never asks for sinful things, provokes. One who loves does what he can to help others to get the Heaven. Sometimes that means stuffing down the desire to run around in a circle imposing one’s raised voice on those vulnerable to having their faith shaken.

Welcome registrants:

bobba_dwj
jollyrogers
Mikey Mike.

Breakfast.

I’m following the classical tournament in Bucharest. My guy Wesley So is playing.

In the video coverage here is a brief view of Wesley.

For nice.

The restoration of the side chapels in church is nearly done. They need to be cleaned up and then the altars can be vested again. This will be so much better. Before, some of the altars had loose slabs and broken or problematic, unstable predella.

With the new lighting system, the colors are really going to pop.

Black to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ROME 26/5– Day 52: lace imitates God’s beauty enlaced in flowers

Posted on 16 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On this Feast of St. Ubaldus the sun came into view at 5:47. We will lose sight of it again at 20:27.

Our ears will not hear in the Curia the un-rung Ave Maria Bell at 20:45. But it does ring at the proper solar time at The Parish™, Ss. Trinità and on my seriously cool APP!

A long time reader and follower of my daily live Mass stream was here in Rome and we met up for my Mass.

This morning The World’s Best Sacristan™ and I went to the Giuseppine in Trastevere to talk to the sisters and to look at difference varieties of lace for, potentially, a new surplice. The one I have here is not awful. However, I’m thinking about something more in the style of the place and my advancing age. (What that is, I’m not sure.) I did learn more about lace today. There are still fantastic hand made laces. I am in complete awe. The last time I was at the Giuseppine was over 35 years ago before my ordination, the anniversary of which is coming up in the next days.

The fact that I have a few photos of lace doesn’t indicate that I’ve made a move. However, this one is nice.

Is there enough?

Made by hand. Holy Cow. Good for an alb, but for a surplice?

This is nice. Classic. Restrained.

I don’t know what to do. Some of this lace is E. 150 per meter. GULP. I don’t want that…yet. I’m stingy. But, it would be a nice alb. One for Rome? Otherwise, here and in the USA, I wear a plain alb with zero lace. I have lacy albs in the USA, but… I should sell them, maybe. I don’t personally know enough seminarians to give them. I’m getting old.

NB: ladies weave beautiful lace flowers in imitation of nature to reflect God’s beauty for the sake of divine worship and I honor them by wearing what the created from love.

Meanwhile, this is what God weaves from the stuff of the earth to reflect His Truth through beauty. What a privilege to see it.

On the way away from The Parish™, I met Pippo’s crew bringing flowers for an afternoon wedding. Look how beautiful. Pippo is a master. This is Anastasia.

I’d LOVE IT if 100 of you wrote to say “Ciao da un lettore di don John”: info@pippocampodefiori.com

I had a little hate note about my sybaritic lifestyle because I ate in a restaurant (at someone’s invitation). LOL. It was the first time I’d been out (at someone’s invitation) for a while. There are those who think that if I am not rubbing gravel in my hair and drinking from a puddle between the cobblestone, then my life doesn’t suck enough. And THAT, of course, is the key to your spiritual life: your life has to suck. I think this might have been provoked by my recent SSPX post. Tonight, here is my ultra-sucky repast: broth, frozen veg, pieces of dried out bread. BUT… sorry to disappoint: it was really good! I’m easily pleased. That “pane di Lariano” had a great resurrection and “descension”.

Speaking of getting old, today and yesterday I just slept a lot. It helped that it rained.

BTW… there is a chestnut that only bishops can have a lining of an alb or surplice in red. That’s false. There is nothing in the Roman tradition that sanctions or proscribes that. Ordinary priests can have red lining for albs and surplices. PERIOD.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
14 Comments