Today in Rome the sun rose at 0727 and it set at 1719 and the Ave Maria Bell was to ring at1730.
It is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. I’m and convert, and I converted in St. Paul.
I also have a 1st class relic of St. Paul… not with me, however.
WELCOME REGISTRANT:
Cici
It has been a productive day.
The Great Roman™ found me at the airport and gave me a lift, bless him. Then we went to do internet installation things. That’s my one task on this trip. Anything else is gravy.
Internet installation seems easy to do. BUT… this is Rome and you never know.
You can see how dark the dome of San Pietro is becoming. Can’t they outsource this? Surely someone will foot the bill since the Holy See has self-destructed financially.
We parked near the Ponte Sisto, which is destined to by a significant signpost in my life.
First, the very first time I was in Rome I stayed in the street leading into it, which runs by The Parish™. Then I walked across it for my first meal in Rome in that year, early 80s. I wasn’t Catholic yet. Now it is in the middle of where I have been for years. Also, I remember Fr. Foster torture a Harvard Latin prof with the inscription by the bridge. That memory is every green.
After some time in the Vodafone store getting internet sorted, we had to regain our strength.
Pizza bianca and mortadella with black truffle.
Which panino is mine? (Okay, this one might not be very hard.)
It’s a short trip and a trial run, a learning venture. I see there are still quite a few things to get, but the MAIN thing is getting internet.
QUAERITUR: Should I get a toaster oven? There’s no microwave. No toaster either.
In chessy news… I understand Tata Steel is getting spicy. I, however, am busy.
That said, for part of the flight I used the inseat games and played chess against the Thing, at the highest level. Even experimenting, I cleaned its clock. I had a memory that it was harder. Am I getting better?
Black to move and mate in 4. Look at those scary bishops… and not for the usual churchy reason.
[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]
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 sunset in Rome was at 1717. The sunset where I am now is…right now! (See below)
The Ave Maria Bell doesn’t ring here either, but in Rome it ought to ring at 1730.
Tomorrow, when I arrive in Rome, the sun should be up already. I’ll report on that later.
Airport. The way into JFK was congested because of construction, but the traffic wasn’t horrible. The dopey Uber driver had to be told several times where to go and, even then, almost didn’t take the right terminal exit.
Check in and security… ZOOM. Not like last time. I practically walked through. Very few people. Lounge, rather empty now. However, there is a fellow from the Asian subcontinent shouting into his own zoom as if this place were his private living room.
I board in about 30 minutes. Time to add the international stuff to my US phone, close the laptop, fill my water bottle, and wrap up here.
Since I switched to T-Mobile from ATT and halved by domestic bill, I think I might have free wifi inflight. I’ll report on how T-Mobile works in Rome. ATT worked well but… whew… the regular monthly bill was horrible.
UPDATE:
Boarding went FAST and I have an empty seat next to me. It is really breezy in the cabin. It’s strong enough to move people’s hair. Lots of people trying to close already closed air vents. I hope this is just a preflight issue or we will we wind chapped. I’m writing with one eye closed. Soon I’ll need a blanket.
We’ve been told that our flight will be over an hour early. I think that the storm Éowyn has something to do with that: tail winds.
This is not all that sophisticated, as in knowing all the lines to 10 moves of the QGD, but it is apt these days for this blog. At Aletheia
How chess explains the vital role of the Virgin Mary
The writer might not be a chess player, given the mix up of terminology. The queen, on the board, is a piece, not a player, though the queen plays a major role (until it doesn’t).
In Queens… really good cheeseburger. I usually have one of these when I come back from Italy. Why wait?
Bun: buttered and grilled, as God intended. Salad instead of starches, although my dining companion shared an some of his onion rings. Cheese: pepper jack. Salad dressing: Balsamic vinaigrette.
Life doesn’t have to be complicated all the time.
This is something uncomplicated too… not as good as a cheeseburger photo, but something you should know about.
Cardinal Robert McElroy was told in detail about Theodore McCarrick’s predatory activities and said nothing publicly. His appointment to Washington is a disgrace. Me in this week’s Spectator: pic.twitter.com/EkFuUw4FLk
The real danger for humanity today, Cardinal Müller said, “consists in the greenhouse gases of sin, the global warming of unbelief and the trans-humanist decay of morality, when no one any longer knows or teaches the difference between good and evil.” @NCRegisterhttps://t.co/lLtkSHlpgHpic.twitter.com/qZmRbpKe29
This is too cool not to post. Elon announced that soon we will have mobile/cellphone to Starlink satellite service. HERE We live in amazing times.
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.
In chessy news… Tata Steel Chess Tournament is taking place from 18 January until 2 February in Wijk aan Zee, but – to your great disappointment, I’m too busy to write about it because I have an international flight in a few hours and I have stuff to do, like find a work-around for the portable monitor delivered today: it doesn’t work with any port but USB C which is my power-IN port! See the problem? This laptop always struggles in Rome with cooling, etc., and I think it may be it’s last trip so that I can dedicate it to the live daily Mass stream from the Chapel of the Two Trinities.
Time yourself.
Black to move and mate in 2. Can you get it in under 30 sec? (Me? 2)
[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]
Today is the feast of St. Raymond of Peñafort (+1275).
What you see below might leave you slightly puzzled.
The painting is in the Spanish church in Rome, Santa Maria in Monserrato.
Here is another view.
This is St. Raymond Penafort (+1275), whose tomb you visit in Barcelona. He was a great canonist and is patron of canon lawyers. With St. Peter Nolasco he founded the Mercedarians.
St. Raymond had gone to Majora (lower left corner of the higher painting and the left side on the lower) to convert the Moors. As it happened King James I of Aragon was hanging out there with his mistress. Channeling his inner John the Baptist, St. Raymond demanded that King send her away. The King refused and Raymond said that he would return to Barcelona. However, the King blocked Raymond’s departure, forbidding any boat to bear him away. In the presence of a Dominican as a witness, Raymond went to the shore, took off his clock and put the end over his staff as a sail, stepped on to the trailing part and zoomed off 160 miles to Barcelona. The King was impressed, it seems, and mended his ways.
St. Raymond pray for us and for politicians who support and are involved in intrinsically evil things that cause public scandal.
Where I am the sun rose at 7:12 and it will set at 17:02.
If you were in Rome, after seeing the sunrise at 7:28 you could venerate the relics of St. Emerentiana at the Basilica of St. Agnes on the Via Nomentana and then later observe the sunset at 17:16 to be followed by the Ave Maria Bell, theoretically at 17:30.
Last night priest friends and I went to a favored Chinese place for supper. We started with xiao long bao (not shown) and moved on to other delights.
This was the cumin lamb.
I had to move fast because one our gang practically lunged at the food as it came out of the kitchen.
Shrimp in mayonnaise with walnuts and pineapple. For those of you in Columbia Heights, yes, that’s broccoli.
Eggplant in garlic sauce.
Dry Pepper Chicken. Quite spicy.
Mixed Vegetables.
Another thing not shown here is the Beef in Hot Sauce. I know I took a photo, but this morning it isn’t in the album. Strange. It was a medium-sized bowl with a stew of beef, garlic, Chinese cabbage and lots of hot peppers with a touch of peppercorns. At this point even our lunging companion had to slow down. Good conversation. Good food. Hard to beat. It’s a pretty simple place. Nothing fancy about it at all, kind of a long marrow hole in the wall, but nice people and good food. We keep going back. I’ve slowly but surely been working out way through the menu, but something are absolutely necessary, like xiao long bao. They are not the best I’ve had, but they are pretty good. But they need bigger spoons! (Note to self. Bring spoon.)
In churchy news, I already posted about the great article on the Catholic teaching concerning “deportation”. HERE
After Chinese, when there was perhaps a little cigar smoke wafting, I saw a video for the first time of the decidedly stupid speech given by the bishopette aimed at 47 and colleagues. The reactions in the pews were great and quite restrained given the obvious insult. However, I saw this interesting tweet. HERE As we saw, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was in charge of the inaugural doings. As it turns out, that “bishopette” was in Minneapolis for a while, which was ground zero for women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church. So, Amy got her dig in, and used her position for a personal jab. But, hey, I grew up in Minneapolis where the Klobuchar name was familiar. Her father was a long time newspaper columnist, which is surely how she made her way: name recognition (not rare).
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In chessy news…. nah.
White to move and win. Win, not mate. There’s a move that wraps it up.
[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]
At Catholic Vote there is an article (seemingly assembled from tweets/x) which you should look at about Catholic teaching on “deportation”.
PROBLEM: Official Church documents on faith and morals have perennially been written in LATIN. That fact is not the PROBLEM to which I referred. The PROBLEM is that, at least in these USA, not many of our clergy – particularly in the upper ranks – can read Latin. This is one reason why the fear and repress sacred liturgical worship in Latin: bishops don’t want to see not to know what is going on, which is a problem that is driven into their heads by the structure of the Novus Ordo, because the Novus Ordo tends to be celebrant animated rather than rubric driven. I digress.
So we can rightly ask, What Does The Church Really Teach about “deportation”.
Here is an idea or two for our bishops to mull over before making sweeping statements in which the word “deportation” might appear.
The smooth text from Catholic Vote (my emphases and comments)
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday, Catholic priest Father Peter Totleben, O.P., explained the Catholic Church’s nuanced teaching on “deportation.”
The definition of the “deportation” explicitly opposed in certain Catholic texts “does not apply to deportation in the colloquial sense that Americans use the term,” Father Totleben wrote.
The Dominican friar wrote that when recent Church documents use the Latin word “deportatio” – usually translated to English as “deportation” – they are not referring to simply repatriating migrants to their country of origin.
He specifically named the 1965 pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes and Pope St. John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical Veritatis splendor. [GS 27 HERE – notice in that paragraph there is a kind of hierarchy of evils perpetrated against human dignity starting with murder of the innocent and suicide which come before the issues stressed by the “seamless garment” crowd. VS quotes GS 27. But VS isn’t very popular right now in some circles.]
“According to the dictionary (and its references to Roman Law), ‘deportatio’ is displacing people from their native land,” the priest explained. “So, in condemning ‘deportatio,’ the Magisterium is thinking of things like the displacement of the Jews, or various displacements that occurred in Europe right after World War II, or things like ethnic cleansing.” [Armenians… Tutsi…. Ethnic cleansing is a serious matter. One could suggest, however, that a pogrom is being carried out within the Church against certain undesirable elements.]
“This should be obvious,” the Dominican stressed. “The Church teaches both that people have a right to migrate both for asylum and economic reasons.”
However, he emphasized that the Church also teaches “that the welcoming country has the right to regulate immigration for economic and cultural reasons,” which “obviously entails a right to repatriate.”
“And it should be pretty clear that if border authorities apprehend someone in the very act of illegally crossing the border, they are allowed to send the person back across the border, they don’t necessarily have to give him residency,” Father Totelben continued, summarizing the common 21st-century American definition of “deportation.”
The priest added it should “be clear that ‘sending a person back to his home country who has no legal right to be in the present country’ and ‘exiling a person from his native land’ are two different species of moral action.”
“Also, notice how no Church authority when speaking out in favor of immigrants has ever said that no immigrant may ever be sent back to his home country, because it is intrinsically evil to do this,” Father Totelben highlighted.
“As always, you have to find out what the people who formulated the Church teaching meant by a term,” the priest wrote. “You can’t apply your own definitions to Church teaching.” [So you have to read… be able to read the LATIN.]
Moreover, he cautioned that not all deportation policies are justified by Church teachings: “Just because deportations, understood as repatriations, are not intrinsically immoral does not mean that a particular plan for mass deportations meets the demands of justice or prudence.” [A balanced explanation.]
To resolve that question,” he wrote, “you would have to weigh a variety of factors” including “the evil of family breakup, the potential injustice of any procedures used to effect the deportation,” as well as “the effect on the economy.”
“And the weighing of these goods and evils are matters that Catholics can in good faith disagree on, and still be good Catholics who are following Catholic social teaching,” he wrote.
Contingent moral problems often have different solutions about which we can disagree.
In Rome, sunrise was at 07:29 and sunset is at 17:15. The Ave Maria Bell ought to ring at 17:30.
It is the Feast of St. Vincent Pallotti, who is the saintly neighbor of The Parish™ on the Via dei Pettinari.
In the traditional calendar we observe Sts. Vincent and Anastasius, which Roman church is in front of the Trevi Fountain. This is the church in which the innards of dozens of Popes are entombed. Yes, innards.
I’ve been watch quite a few of the videos and clips of the inaugural events. I happened to catch the new SecState arrive at Foggy Bottom and give a speech to his workers. I am pretty sure that Marco Rubio is a Vulcan.
I am at the airport for my first leg to Brooklyn. Thence, to Roma. The airport is chaos due to many delayed flights. My flight is delayed as well but – so far – not too long. And I don’t have a connection.
I’ve thought for a while. I can’t think of anything I’ve heard Card. Sarah say with which I disagree.
NEW: Cardinal Sarah said Monday that any plan to abolish the Latin Mass would be “diabolical”:
“an insult to the history of the Church & to Sacred Tradition, a diabolical project that seeks to break with the Church of Christ, the Apostles & the Saints.”https://t.co/FKnlp2W5wapic.twitter.com/yNBzy3jFYI
I read on X a suggestions that the Gulf should be renamed the Gulf of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I like it. It might be too late. HERE
I missed the whole thing with the “bishopette” but I saw 47’s tweet. I guess that’s a “no” vote. HERE
Meanwhile…
Many Episcopalian believers have been embracing Catholicism recently. The speech at the inauguration prayer service by the “woman bishop” may pave the path for more conversions. pic.twitter.com/gclGyayK8C
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.
BREAKING: President Donald Trump has pardoned pro-life advocate Bevelyn Williams, who Joe Biden put in federal prison for 3 years for protesting abortion.
Rickey Victory, Bevelyn's husband wrote on X " Time to go get my wife ??"
Commenting on yesterday's private audience, Bishop Schneider has said Pope Francis "showed great cordiality towards me and we spoke about some important themes on the life of the Church. Let us pray for Pope Francis that he might confirm the Church in the Faith.” +Schneider had… https://t.co/52eyMdcNWh
The Church, especially the Church in Rome, is in an objectively dreadful state.
For the sake of the Roman Church, let us today invoke St. Agnes, virgin and martyr.
O glorious Agnes who, though weak, was chosen by God to make His own might manifest in your martyrdom, together with the Peter and Paul and the other Roman martyrs and confessors, intercede now before the throne of our Christ the High Priest in heaven and beg a return of orthodoxy, sanity and sanctity to the Church especially in Rome and in particular the Roman Curia at every level. O holy Agnes, who bravely suffered torments, ask Mary, the Queen of the Clergy, to protect and aid all priests, so that they will all stand up boldly and teach the truth about the Sacrament of Matrimony, the integrity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the truth about the Most Holy Eucharist, and beg for the restoration and renewal of our sacred liturgical worship of the Lamb who was slain. We entrust this to you, blessed Saint Agnes, with all our confidence. Amen.
I have posted the following in times past, but it bears repetition. Newcomers to this blog may not have seen it.
Behold the skull of Agnes, in situ, in her beautiful church in Rome on the Piazza Navona.
The dies natalis (“birthday into heaven”) of Agnes was recorded in the register of the depositio martyrum as 21 January.
St. Agnes was slain probably during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in 304. Some say she died during the time of the Emperor Valerian (+260).
The little girl was buried by her parents in praediolo suo, on their property along the Via Nomentana where there was already a cemetery.
This cemetery expanded rapidly after that, because many wanted to be buried near the grave of the famous martyr. The ancient cemetery grew in stages between the Basilica which Constantina, daughter of Constantine and Fausta began over her tomb from 337-350 and the small round Basilica of Constantia (Constantine’s daughter).
There was an acrostic inscription from that time in verses about the dedication of the temple to Agnes:
Constantina deum venerans Christoque dicata Omnibus impensis devota mente paratis Numine divino multum Christoque iuvante Sacravit templum victricis virginis Agnes…
You get the idea.
The Basilica of St. Agnes was reconstructed towards the end of the 5th c. by Pope Symmachus (+514). Honorius I (+638) rebuilt it as a basilica with three naves, adding a wonderful fresco of Agnes. It was worked on again in the 16th c. by St. Pius V and in the 19th by Bl. Pope Pius IX.
Excavations in 1901 uncovered the silver sarcophagus made by Pius V for St. Agnes together with St. Emerentiana.
It contained the headless body of a young girl.
Zadock gave us a photo of the miraculous protection of Bl. Pius IX when once at the Basilica there was a near disastrous cave-in/collapse and no one was injured.
While Agnes’s body is in her tomb on the Via Nomentana, her skull is now at the place of her supposed martyrdom at the Piazza Navona in Rome’s heart. It is a fitting place to venerate a saint so much in the heart of the Roman people even today. It is not unusual for people today to name their children Agnes in honor of this great virgin martyr, whose name is pronounced in the Roman Canon.
The skull was bequeathed to that church at the Piazza by Pope Leo XIII who took it from the treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum.
The Piazza itself was in ancient times the Stadium of Domitian (+96) a place of terror and blood for early Christians, far more than the Colosseum ever was. The Piazza is thus called also the “Circo Agonale” and the name of the saint’s church is Sant’Agnese in Agone. “Navona” is a corruption of “Agonale”, from Greek agon referring to the athletic contests of the ancient world. St. Paul used the athlete’s struggle as an image of the Christian life of suffering, perseverance, and final victory even through the shedding of blood. Early Christian tombs often have wavy lines carved on the front, representing an metal instrument called a strigil, used by athletes to scrape dirt and oil from their bodies after contests. Victory palm branches are still used in the iconography of saints, as well as wreathes of laurels.
We know about St. Agnes from St. Jerome, and especially St. Augustine’s Sermons 273, 286 and 354. St. Ambrose wrote about Agnes in de virginibus 1,2,5-9 written in 377 as did Prudentius in Hymn 14 of the Peristephanon written in 405.
Ambrose has a wonderful hymn about Agnes (no. 8), used now in the Roman Church for Lauds and Vespers of her feast. The Ambrosian account differs somewhat from others. For Ambrose, Agnes died from beheading. Prudentius has her first exposed to shame in a brothel and then beheaded.
Here is the text of the hymn from the Liturgia horarum for the “Office of Readings” with a brutally literal translation.
Igne divini radians amoris
corporis sexum superavit Agnes,
et super carnem potuere carnis
claustra pudicae.
Shining with the fire of divine love
Agnes overcame the gender of her body,
and the undefiled enclosures of the flesh
prevailed over flesh.
The heavenly host took up her brilliant white spirit,
and the heavens lifted it above the stars;
the chaste bride is united to the
blessed bride chambers of the Spouse.
Virgo, nunc nostrae miserere sortis
et, tuum quisquis celebrat tropaeum,
impetret sibi veniam reatus
atque salutem.
O virgin, now have pity on our lot,
and, whoever celebrates your victory day,
let him earnestly pray for forgiveness of guilt
and salvation for himself.
Redde pacatum populo precanti
principem caeli dominumque terrae
donet ut pacem pius et quietae
tempora vitae.
Give back to this praying people
the Prince of heaven and Lord of the earth,
that he, merciful, may grant us peace
and times of tranquil living.
Laudibus mitem celebremus Agnum,
casta quem sponsum sibi legit Agnes,
astra qui caeli moderatur atque
cuncta gubernat. Amen.
Let us celebrate with praises the gentle Lamb,
whom chaste Agnes binds to herself as Spouse,
he who governs the stars of heaven
and guides all things. Amen.
We can note a couple things from this prayer. First, the reference to fire probably a description of Agnes’s death related in a metrical panegyric of Pope Damasus about how Agnes endured martyrdom by fire. On the other hand, St. Ambrose, when speaking of her death, speaks of martyrdom by the sword.
Pope St. Damasus composed a panegyric, an elogia, inscribed in gorgeous letters on marble (designed and executed by Dionysius Philocalus) in honor of Roman saints, including Agnes. This was the period when the Roman liturgy shifted from Greek to stylized (not common or everyday “vernacular”) Latin. Damasus was also trying to make a social statement with these great inscriptions, set up at various places about the City. The panegyric of St. Agnes was placed in the cemetery near the saint’s tomb, but through the ages it was lost. Amazingly, it was at last rediscovered in 1728 inside the basilica, whole and complete: it had been used as a paving stone! Fortunately, upside down! Its rediscovery was a find of vast importance.
Now it is affixed to the wall in the corridor descending to the narthex.
FAMA REFERT SANCTOS DUDUM RETULISSE PARENTES
AGNEN CUM LUGUBRES CANTUS TUBA CONCREPUISSET
NUTRICIS GREMIUM SUBITO LIQUISSE PUELLAM
SPONTE TRUCIS CALCASSE MINAS RABIEMQUE TYRANNI
URERE CUM FLAMMIS VOLUISSET NOBILE CORPUS
VIRIBUS INMENSUM PARVIS SUPERASSE TIMOREM
NUDAQUE PROFUSUM CRINEM PER MEMBRA DEDISSE
NE DOMINI TEMPLUM FACIES PERITURA VIDERET
O VENERANDA MIHI SANCTUM DECUS ALMA PUDORIS
UT DAMASI PRECIBUS FAVEAS PRECOR INCLYTA MARTYR
It is told that one day the holy parents recounted that Agnes, when the trumpet had sounded its sad tunes, suddenly left the lap of her nurse while still a little girl and willingly trod upon the rage and the threats of the cruel tyrant. Though he desired to burn the noble body in the flames, with her little forces she overcame immense fear and, gave her loosened hair to cover her naked limbs, lest mortal eye might see the temple of the Lord. O one worthy of my veneration, holy glory of modesty, I pray you, O illustrious martyr, deign to give ear to the prayers of Damasus.
Damasus used the sources available. There were the stories told by her parents, the 4th edict of Diocletian against Christians in 304 (lugubres cantus tuba concrepuisset). Agnes did what she did of her own free will (sponte). Note the reference to the body as temple of God (1 Cor 3:16 and 2 Cor 6:16).
St. Agnes of Rome, has two grand churches in Rome. She has two feast days in the traditional Roman calendar.
Since the reform of the calendar, Agnes now has only one day, alas.
Ask Agnes to intercede with God for a return of sanity to the Roman Church.
Also, here is a shot of my 1st class relic of St. Agnes. Thank you to the kind reader – Susan – who sent me the reliquary back in May 2020.
I was taken up today with watching the inauguration, playing OTB, and doing errands and chores so much that I nearly forgot.
This is the Eve of St. Agnes.
In the classical calendar we venerate many Roman martyrs in a beautiful bouquet, Marcellus, Prisca, Fabian, Sebastian… and Agnes.
Years ago – good grief 2012 – at someone’s behest, when I was reading poetry in podcasts I recorded the famous poem by Keats. HERE If you have have a few minutes you might check it out. A younger voice!
Pope Francis received in private audience this morning Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, has been respectfully critical of Pope Francis’ pontificate over the years, stressing that such criticisms are “an expression of true and sincere love… pic.twitter.com/aPSBbgkQlJ
In the Vetus Ordo, it’s the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany. In the Novus Ordo, it is the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary (Ordered) Time. Green vestments are back. This year, not only do the Collects coincide in both rites, Vetus and Novus, but the same Gospel is read: the Wedding at Cana. It’s a liturgical unicorn.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?
Share the good stuff. Quite a few people are forced to sit through really bad preaching. Even though you can usually find – if you are willing to try – at least one good point in a really bad sermon, that can be a trial. So… SHARE THE GOOD STUFF which you were fortunate enough to receive!
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news? We really need good news.
[W]herever the Christian faith is held and the Christian life is lived, there will be persecution. Persecution is also leveled within the Church and not just from without. It is not unfair to say that the treatment of Catholics who desire the traditional form of the Roman Rite, the Vetus Ordo, are intentionally targeted with persecution. It is hard to see it otherwise. All the fine talk about accompaniment, listening, dialogue and diversity are little better than weasel words, since these proposed ideals are specifically denied those who desire the traditional liturgical worship rooted in more than a millennium. All manner of ludicrous antics and even idolatry and blasphemy can be perpetrated by the “in” side. People who desire to kneel in adoration, pray in the Church’s official language which the Council Father’s commanded to be retained, and apply decorum in vesture and gesture, are publicly dressed down by their pastors, accused of being – despite their youthful age – self-centered retrograde nostalgics who are probably mentally ill.
In Matthew 23:2, Jesus refers to the “seat of Moses” to condemn the religious leaders of Israel. He tells His followers to listen to them but not to follow their example.
I hear that Jack is probably going to be cleared, at least Dozer thinks so. He’s been doing daily liturgy for some short hair nuns somewhere, not sure which kind. Probly the scary kind, not the ones in habits that’s for sure knowing Jack. Matteo and Jude haven’t heard, or say they haven’t.
Fr Tommy got me to say I’d approve those communion rails if the pastors can prove they can pay for them and if they can get their diocese appeal numbers up. Sounds okay. It’s not like they will use them or anything and they sort of look like the should be there in those old churches. Speaking of old, I guess the cleaned confession boxes at SnT are a hit with people. Who knew? These days you just don’t know. Piggy* refuses to use one but that’s not much of a loss since I don’t think he spends time with reconciliation except for the big mega washes at Advent and Lent. This rail thing could get out of hand. After the confessionals, some other priests reconverted theirs too. I suspected they might. But heck I’ll use one next time I’m there for a recon service. No way I’m gonna let that marriage blessing mess happen again. T outmanoovered me but he was right about that. Rats.
Chester. Doz came on Monday and stayed for a couple days. He and Chester don’t see eye to eye, even though D is pretty short. HA! Ever since the bite thing D’s been on the alert and I try to keep Chester out of the room, park him with Sr Randi or Fr Gilbert. Ya can’t lock C in a room alone. Not good. We got a couple of guys, Piggy and Joe, in to play some poker and have a BBQ – great ribs! – and Doz kicked his shoes off. Somehow Chester got away and zoomed through the room under the table and grabbed one of Dozer’s shoes. I knew he’s fast when it’s time to eat, but this was a whole different gear. By the time we get him cornered and got the shoe away, it looked like it had been in a woodchopper. How does he do that with those bad teeth? D was furious and he an C glared at each other for a while and then he just trotted off. Piggy couldn’t stop laughing, of course, once he starts. Annoying.
_____
*“Piggy” is Fatty’s nickname for the Rector of Spirit and Truth Cathedral, Msgr. McSwiney. The other priests call him the “Irish Setter” because he doesn’t do very much.
NB: If you are interested in the Chartres Pilgrimage, there is a webinar you can sign up for. HERE It’s held by the great REGINA Magazine. The editor wrote to me: “This trip fills up fast, so hurry!” Free information webinar on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 8:00 pm ET. Sign up. There will be time available for Q&A.
Welcome Registrant:
Dr.
Once again, thanks to donors for help with my upcoming Roman Sojourn for the end of January and beginning of February. It’s a fast one. Here’s an updated list:
JL, SAS, JL, JK, MH, GF, KM, VD, DLS, HL, TB, DvdH, LD, KK, AC, GW, DM, T&MLG, DH, DM, AN, JC, SB, SP, MM, AR, KC, RG (restricted to favorite drinks), GG, JA, DC, SU
I’ve recorded your names and I’ll keep you in my particular prayers during my time in the Eternal City as always. I hope I didn’t miss anyone. My main expenses are covered for this trip. I will have some “practical” expenses and I have to compensate people who worked on spiffing up my place. There’s “wavy flag” and, my preference, Zelle. I’ll have another drive before returning to Rome for Holy Week in April and beyond into May.
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’ve been saying all along that people build religious buildings according to what they believe. Makes sense, right? In recent decades we’ve seen churches built that look like municipal airports, with virtually no element that might raise thought to the transcendent. I think this is changing, slowly.
German poet Heinrich Heine was once asked why men no longer build great cathedrals.
He replied: “People in those old times had convictions; we moderns only have opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral.” pic.twitter.com/B2oiyH9qS3
German poet Heinrich Heine was once asked why men no longer build great cathedrals.
He replied: “People in those old times had convictions; we moderns only have opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral.” pic.twitter.com/B2oiyH9qS3
Cancel culture in the Church Prelates of pornotheology promoted
I can’t think of a time when it was more important to beg God for mercy and aid, now.
In the post-Conciliar calendar, it’s again the Time called “Ordinary”, which is “ordered” not “unexceptional”. We might say also, “sequential”.
In the traditional calendar of the Vetus Ordo, this is the “Time through the year”, divided into time after Epiphany and time after Pentecost. However, this terminology, “Tempus per annum … time through the year”, remained also in the Novus Ordo calendar.
Ordinary Time embraces the sacral cycle of Lent and Eastertide like bookends. It stretches from the adoration of the heavenly infant King by earthly kings to the Solemnity of Christ the King who will come as Judge to separate the tares from the wheat and usher in the unending reign of peace.
This Sunday is what I call a “liturgical unicorn”. It is rare. The Collects are the same in the Vetus Ordo and in the Novus, and, in one year only, the Gospel is the same (the wedding at Cana).
This is Sunday’s Collect, for the Second Sunday (VO) after Epiphany / (NO) of Ordinary Time:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui caelestia simul et terrena moderaris, supplicationibus populi tui clementer exaudi, et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus.
We often ask when we pray in Latin that God will pay attention, usually by “hearing” us. Exaudio signifies “listen to” in the sense of “perceive clearly.” The imperative exaudi is more urgent than a simple audi (the imperative of audio, not the car). Think of the beginning of one of our Litanies: “Christe audi nos… Christe exaudi nos…” often translated as “Christ hear us… Christ graciously hear us.”
For the ancient Romans a supplicatio was a solemn religious ceremony in thanksgiving for a victory or prayer in the face of danger. It is related to supplex, an adjective for the position of a beggar, on bended knees or prostration. The root of supplex implies bending, folding.
Tempus obviously means “time”. It also means “the appointed time, the right season, an opportunity (Greek kairos)”. Tempus gives us “temporal”, that is, worldly or earthly things, material things, as opposed to sacred, eternal or spiritual. Plural tempora can also mean the “temples” of our heads, as well as “the times”, our “state of affairs”.
LITERAL RENDERING:
Almighty eternal God, who at the same time do govern things heavenly and earthly, mercifully hearken to the supplications of Your people, and grant Your peace in our times.
In that “our times” try to hear simultaneously, “our temporal affairs, everything that’s going on”. (Cf., also the list at the top.)
Lest we forget…
OBSOLETE ICEL (1973): Father of heaven and earth,
hear our prayers, and show us the way
to peace in the world.
Really?
CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Almighty ever-living God,
who govern all things,
both in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the pleading of your people
and bestow your peace on our times.
We beg God, omnipotent sempiternal disposer of all things, for peace in our temporal affairs here and now, not just later in heaven. We do not want just any peace. We want the peace which comes from Him.
Christ said:
“Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid” (John 14:27 DR).
Christians are confident. Christ will give us His peace. He said so.
But He won’t force peace on us.
The temporal peace the world offers and the peace that God bestows are different, though they can be harmonized when the temporal is subordinated to the heavenly.
The goods (and ills) of this world are passing and fragile, always susceptible to loss.
The goods of heaven are enduring and dependable.
No finite, passing, created thing or person can provide lasting joy or eternal peace: they will be lost through theft and wear, time and death.
Our wealth, family, health, appearance and reputation can be lost in the blink of an eye. Believe me!
To put a creature in God’s place is foolhardy idolatry and a sin.
Love God, above all. Practice making His will your own.
In the Paradiso of the Divine Comedy, Dante meets Piccarda. Dante asks her whether souls in Heaven are envious of souls who are higher in Heaven. She responds that happiness comes from conforming to God’s will, which is a person’s highest good. In effect, she couldn’t be happier because she is where God’s wants her to be. In very words in the Divine Comedy,
“……..In His will is our peace:
that is the sea whereto all creatures fare
fashioned by Nature or the hand of God.” (Par 3.85, trans. by Esolen – HERE).
Treat yourself to reading Dante with Anthony Esolen’s translation. HERE
God knew each one of us outside of time, before the creation of both the visible and invisible universe. He called us into existence at a precise moment in His eternal plan. He gives us all something to do in His plan together with the talents and graces to do it. When we cooperate with Him, submit our wills to His, make His plan for us our own, God then makes us strong enough to carry it out.
God knows our needs better than we do.
Turn confidently to Him in prayer. Ask Him for the graces, and with them the peace, which He alone can give.
Sin shatters His peace. Peace can be regained in the Sacrament of Penance. Go to confession.
We ask God to bless us in this new year of salvation. Let us beg Him to give aid to all who suffer. Let us beg Him to give aid to all who cause suffering.
With bent knees and with foreheads to the ground, bodies and wills both bent in supplication, beg His graces and His peace.
Once again, thank to my donors for my rapidly approaching Roman Sojourn for the end of January and beginning of February. It’s a fast one. I have “chores” to do. Some of you wonderful readers pitched in. Here’s an updated list (I had missed one of you):
JL, SAS, JL, JK, MH, GF, KM, VD, DLS, HL, TB, DvdH, LD, KK, AC, GW, DM, T&MLG, DH, DM, AN, JC, SB, SP, MM, AR, KC, RG (restricted to favorite drinks), GG, JA, DC
Thank you all. My main expenses are covered for this trip. I will have some “practical” expenses and I have to compensate some people who worked on spiffing up my place. There’s “wavy flag” and, my preference, Zelle. I’ll have another, more serious drive before returning to Rome for Holy Week in April and beyond into May.
In churchy news…
I would like to have been at this conference. In fact, I would have gone had I KNOWN about it.
“The root of evil is not clericalism, whatever that may be, but the rejection of truth and moral licentiousness” (Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller in a homily at a clergy conference in Rome on January 14 ). pic.twitter.com/6uasazE0l2
— P. D’Angona, Sacerdos Romano-Catholicus (@RomanoSace57080) January 15, 2025
In England, state funding has been withdrawn for teaching Latin. HERE
The dissolution of civilisation in England continues. Motus in finem velocior.
At The Pillar there is a refreshingly non-muckraking piece by a young man of my acquaintance, a longish history of the faithful being forced by clericalists to stand for Communion. I knew this smart, devout and diligent fellow in Madison. He marshals good sources. Read this in the wake of the Windy prelate’s goofy notions about Communion and processions. In a nutshell, the relentless efforts to impose Communion while standing was met with intense dislike by the faithful, who were then overridden and run over by their liberal cleric overlords. HERE It is interesting how the attitude of the lib liturgical bullies toward the faithful who wanted tradition has today reemerged viciously. The Enemy – a Bully – is relentless but not particularly innovative.
In other news, I read at Italian new agency ANSA that Francis fell in the Casa Santa Marta and has now a bruised forearm, but not a break. He also fell on 6 Dec and wound up with a bruised face from his bedside table.
In sad news, at La Nazione it is reported that a seminarian – deacon – of the Institute of Christ the King in Italy at Gricigliano, French-born Charles Outtier, was killed from a tractor overturning while working an olive grove. R.I.P. Say a prayer for him and for his family.
Next… Bp. Strickland cites an old friend and seminary-mate of mine back in my native place, Fr. Robert Altier.
Please, please, please listen to Fr Altier, he is a Saint Timothy for the 21st Century. Stand with Christ and His Church, be ready to be crucified with Him and you will rise with Him.
Some are seeking to change the Truth that cannot be changed. Please pray for them in charity…
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.
In churchy news…
I read that Francis now has had published an “autobiography”.
Well! That was interesting, wasn’t it?
Imagine! “A fascination for what is not understood”?
When the powers that be go after celebrations of Mass in the traditional form, it’s because they can’t stand the people who want it. They see you with a condescending contempt which masks their fear. They see you as a living proof of their deficiencies and/or vices. You must be crushed so they won’t be reminded of how what they have done and are persisting in doing is a massive fail. It’s not just about the traditional Mass. It’s about the people.
In the autobiography he also says that priests devoted to Latin Mass could have “mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioral difficulties”.
What does this remind me of? It’s right there… on the tip of my memory… what … was … it…?
Oh yes. Now I recall.
Seminary in the 1980’s. That’s the old technique, isn’t it? Anyone who was conservative was labeled psychologically damaged. Then they either forced men out the door or into a shrink’s office where they were supposed to reveal that they are really “gay” in order to be allowed to stay. Back in the day, when we weren’t referring to the seminary as The Hole, we called it Lubyanka.
I refer the readership to check out a page about the Soviet game of diagnosing dissidents with “sluggish schizophrenia“. HERE The idea was that anyone who opposed the Soviet regime must be mentally ill, since there was no raational explanation for objecting to the best thing ever.
Question the magnificent post-Conciliar springtime and you must be nuts. Desire something that deviates from the greatest thing since the Council of Jerusalem and you will be suppressed… in mercy and openness to diversity… while walking together.
If you want a copy of the autobiography, you don’t have to rush to the local bookstore before they sell out. You can get one by using this link HERE and I will, ironically, get a piece of the sale.
On a related note, I refer the readership to Tracey Rowland’s superb Catholic Theology (US HERE – UK HERE) wherein she explains various schools of Catholic thought including that of Francis (within the chapter on Liberation Theology). Dr. Rowland has sharp insights. The first page or so of her look into the thought of Francis bear special attention.
On related note, the tenacious Phil Lawler of Catholic Culture has a piece you should look to fill in some of the puzzle pieces. HERE
Also not unrelated is this…
Remember in 2013, when Pope Francis said there was a Gay lobby in the Vatican responsible for the corruption in the Curia.
In his autobiography, he talks about the box that Benedict gave him: “Everything is in here.” The “documents relating to the most difficult and painful… pic.twitter.com/KGcwNQ1erk
You know that using Epiphany Water, which is a “trad thing” because it’s full of lacy and interest in what isn’t understood, means that people in that house were divisive. They had audacity not to lose their home just like everyone else! Why don’t these people just conform?
In chessy news… HERE
White to move and mate in 2. How fast are you?
Hey Fathers! How about a clerical Guayabera shirt?
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.
Many thanks for the January/February BRIEF Roman Sojourn donations from (I hope I got everyone):
JL, SAS, JL, JK, MH, GF, KM, VD, DLS, HL, TB, DvdH, LD, KK, AC, GW, DM, T&MLG, DH, DM, AN, JC, SB, SP, MM, AR, KC, RG (restricted to favorite drinks), GG, JA
Thank you all. My main expenses are covered for this trip. That doesn’t mean that you can’t contribute now, of course. I will have some “practical” expenses and I have to compensate some people who worked on spiffing up my place. There’s “wavy flag” and, my preference, Zelle. I’ll have another. more serious drive before returning to Rome for Holy Week in April and beyond into May.
In churchy news…
As you know, Epiphany traditionally observes three manifestations of Christ’s divinity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Baptism and the Wedding at Cana. One of my favorite Catholic artists, Daniel Matsui has a wonderful rendition.
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.
Yesterday, Feast of the Holy Family, I celebrated Holy Mass for the intention of my benefactors. This is a duty and a pleasure. It is my practice also to remember at the Memento of the Dead (in the Canon) my benefactors who have died. If I get notice, I record it. I will not forget.
Many thanks for the January/February BRIEF Roman Sojourn donations from (I hope I got everyone):
JL, SAS, JL, JK, MH, GF, KM, VD, DLS, HL, TB, DvdH, LD, KK, AC, GW, DM, T&MLG, DH, DM, AN, JC, SB, SP, MM, AR, KC
You are deeply appreciated for your kindness. My main expenses are covered for this trip. I’ll have another drive before returning to Rome in April for Holy Week and beyond. That doesn’t mean that you can’t contribute now, of course. There’s “wavy flag” and, my preference, Zelle.
WELCOME REGISTRANT:
Sheepdog
The wonderful Card. Zen! Mistreated in life.
Since my serious illness last year, every day that follows has been a gift from God, and I thank Him deeply. I also thank everyone for the birthday blessings you have given to this 93-year-old.
This year, I especially pray for those suffering in war, under natural disasters,… pic.twitter.com/VHc4yjRvWo
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
A.S. Haley on ROME DAY 25/01 -02: Chinese Food (Sichuan): “Apparently, no one has addressed your chess problem yet, Father Z, so I’ll try. To me, White’s best move is…”
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Venerator Sti Lot on Daily Rome Shot 1226 – “Baaaaaah!”: “Tangentially, Mr. Trump will this year be able to celebrate 40 years living in a Spanish-Revival-style home named Mar-a-Lago (with,…”
Gregg the Obscure on ROME DAY 25/01 -02: Chinese Food (Sichuan): “In my late wife’s birthplace of New Jersey there are many “bring your own bottle” restaurants due to arcane liquor…”
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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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“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.
Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thine image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today in Rome the sun rose at 0727 and it set at 1719 and the Ave Maria Bell was to ring at1730.
The sunset in Rome was at 1717. The sunset where I am now is…right now! (See below)
Where I am the sun rose at 7:12 and it will set at 17:02.
In chessy news… 
We can note a couple things from this prayer. First, the reference to fire probably a description of Agnes’s death related in a metrical panegyric of Pope Damasus about how Agnes endured martyrdom by fire. On the other hand, St. Ambrose, when speaking of her death, speaks of martyrdom by the sword.
In chessy news…. 
Jan 16th, 2
In chessy news… 
In the post-Conciliar calendar, it’s again the Time called “Ordinary”, which is “ordered” not “unexceptional”. We might say also, “sequential”.
The temporal peace the world offers and the peace that God bestows are different, though they can be harmonized when the temporal is subordinated to the heavenly.
In chessy news…
When the powers that be go after celebrations of Mass in the traditional form, it’s because they can’t stand 
On a related note, I refer the readership to Tracey Rowland’s superb 
In chessy news… HERE
In chessy news…. 
TonyO on ROME DAY 25/01 -01: Cheeseburger: “I’m sorry, did you say “chessburger”?”
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