ROME 25/4– Day 13: Easter Monday called “of the angel”, Pasquetta, and Happy 2778th Birthday of ROME!

Sunrise today was at 06:18 and it set a few minutes ago at 20:00.

The Ave Maria Bells is slated to chime at 20:15.

The Roman Station is St Peter’s Basilica.

Today, in the reckoning of St. Anselm of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church (+1109).

Today, this very day, is the death day of Francis.  R.I.P.

Today, Easter Monday “of the angel”, is called Pasquetta here in Italy and a holiday.

Today is the 2778th Birthday of Rome!

Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
promis et celas aliusque et idem
nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
visere maius.

Q. Horatius Flaccus
Carmen Saeculare

Ovid’s long entry in the Fasti begins...

Nox abiit, oritur Aurora.  Parilia poscor:
non poscor frustra, si favet alma Pares.
alma Pales, faveas pastoria sacra canenti,
prosequor officio si tua festa meo.

Sounds like the beginning of one of these Rome posts!   And the calendar indicates that today’s aurora was at 5:49!  I like how Ovid just rolls it out so effortlessly.

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Casa Santa Marta with flag at half staff.

The confrers of the Archconfraternity of Ss. Trinità said the Office for the Dead at San Pietro.

I ask…

How many of the libs and bureaucrats of the Curia said the OFFICE FOR THE DEAD.

In charity, I must stop.

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ASK FATHER: Priest and the Roman Canon… what do we say now?

Priests have written, one with some precise notes and cites, and I’ve seen one piece in my email by Louis Tofari, who knows his way around an Ordo.

QUAERITUR:

With the death of Francis, what do priests say in the Roman Canon where they were to say his name?

John Paul died on 2 April 2005.  Benedict was elected on 18 April 2005.  We had the sede vacante for about two weeks.   Benedict abdicated on 28 February 2013 and Francis emerged on the loggia on the 2nd day of the conclave 13 March 2013, sede vacante just about two week (yes, I know some say the See has been empty since 2013 or 1958 or whatever).

Assuming that priests are in their right minds and that a) they pay attention and b) are not cretins (not lightly to be passed over) and c) say the Roman Canon (as they ought in the Roman Catholic Church) what shall we say?

Sticking to the Vetus Ordo, because it is the unquestionable Roman Rite and must be the point of reference for the Novus Ordo because that’s the only thing which makes any sense at all of the Novus Ordo, pace those who risibly think the NO is the “unique expression”, etc., the rubrics of the Vetus Ordo, the TLM, say that that the entire clause “una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N.” is omitted:

“Ubi dicit: una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N., exprimit nomen Papæ. Sede autem vacante verba prædicta omittuntur.”

For those of us IN ROME, there is another instruction: Since the Pope is the local bishop, we leave out the business about “et Antístite nostro N” and skip to “et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

So, IN ROME … and this is the third time I’ve had to do this… I would early this morning have said (had I known):

…in primis, quæ tibi offérimus pro Ecclésia tua sancta cathólica: quam pacificáre, custodíre, adunáre et régere dignéris toto orbe terrárum et [pro being understood here] ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

I think that priests would not go to liturgical jail in this life or liturgical purgatory in the next were they to say IN ROME:

in primis, quæ tibi offérimus pro Ecclésia tua sancta cathólica: quam pacificáre, custodíre, adunáre et régere dignéris toto orbe terrárum: una cum … ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

Outside of Rome, it seems that priests ought to say:

in primis, quæ tibi offérimus pro Ecclésia tua sancta cathólica: quam pacificáre, custodíre, adunáre et régere dignéris toto orbe terrárum et [pro is understood] Antístite nostro N. et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

Again, no severe punishment would be due were Father to slide an extra “pro” in there or even – gasp – say “una cum” before the name of the local bishop.

If there is a local bishop!  That’s another thing.  I guess you would just do it like in Rome were there no bishop to cite.

We want to do this right.  Right?  However, anyone who would fret about this a lot or who would suffer from scruples, fearing that by saying an extraneously “una cum” or “pro” which would make the whole text smoother and more intelligible ought to sit down, have a beer from Norcia or wine from Le Barroux (not immediately before Mass) and breathe deeply and calmly for a while. If he is still worked up, he should seek help.

This is help.

Relax.  Figure it out.

How about the English of the Novus Ordo?  I don’t care.  Just look at it and figure it out.  As a matter of fact, if memory serves, is there even a rubric about this in the Novus Ordo Missale Romanum?

Hmmm… perhaps that is a subtle additional puzzle piece as to how detached the Novus Ordo from Romanitas.

A good question for the readers: is there a rubric in the Novus Ordo for this?

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ASK FATHER: Octave of Easter, what about Requiem Masses, Votives for the Election of a Pope… Novena to St. Catherine?

From reader(s)… synthesized…

QUAERUNTUR:

Is it possible to have a Requiem Mass for Francis during the Octave of Easter?

It seems that it is not possible, either in the Novus Ordo or in the Vetus Ordo. The Octave outweighs just about anything except an actually funeral Mass itself. The Vetus Requiem for the day or death or reception of death does not outweigh the Octave. The earliest possible Requiem would be next Monday, after Low Sunday, on 28 April.

When will it possible, because it is now the Octave, to have Votive Masses for the Election of a Pope?

The next opportunity for a Vetus Votive Mass for the Election of a Pope would be (1st) Saturday 3 May and then Tuesday 6 May and Thursday 8 May.

I think you should be able add orations before that.

NOTA BENE:

It has been pointed out that we are 9 days out – a Novena – to the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena on Wednesday 30 April. St. Catherine was one of the Holy Spirit’s mighty instruments in the restoration of the Papacy to Rome.

The Papacy returned to Rome from Avignon on 17 January 1377, when Pope Gregory XI, influenced (nagged?) by St. Catherine of Siena, moved the Papal court back to Rome, ending the Avignon Papacy (since 1309). She was the second woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church, on 4 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI, days after Teresa of Ávila. In 1999 Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Patron Saint of Europe.

In this time of hopeful uncertainty for the Roman Church, she would be a good saint to beg to intercede for the best possible outcome of the upcoming conclave.

Remember: As Joseph Ratzinger explained, it is not the role of the Holy Spirit to pick a pope. The Holy Spirit prevents the fallible and sinful Cardinals from choosing a man who would be total disaster. That doesn’t mean that a pope can’t be a disaster. History teaches us about that. We will not have total disaster, no matter what.

Let us pray for much better.

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Pray for a new Pope to who will be… better than we deserve!   

Now that Francis has gone to God, our role is to pray not only that that God will be merciful to him, but also for the election of a new Pope who will be … better than we deserve!

Let us pray that he will be truly holy and faithful, zealous to fulfill God’s will in sacrificial love in keeping with Office and sacred Tradition entrusted to him.

Let us pray for a Pope who will bring healing and justice to those who are strongly attached to the Church’s ancient liturgical and doctrinal Tradition.

Let us pray for a Pope who will be a consistent point of reference for the unity of all the Churches aligned with Rome.

Let us pray for a Pope who can facilitate unity with separated Churches.

Let us pray for a Pope who will bring crystal clarity to the burning questions of our day regarding faithful and morals.

Let us pray for a Pope who will shine forth in his words and deeds, as well as in his silences and patience, Christ, whose Vicar he must be.

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With the death of Francis, some will have questions about an election

Francis’s soul went before the Just Judge at about 07:35 this morning, Easter Monday.

The vast majority of the Catholic world accepted readily that Francis was the legitimate Successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ. Others questioned whether he was legitimate either because of the odd way that Pope Benedict resigned, because of certain machinations by power-broker cardinals before the 2013 conclave, or because of Francis’ subsequent actions. It is mainly to these “others” that I address this, because, within these different groups, there could be doubts about how a College of Cardinals created by such a figure (i.e., not really the Pope) could ever elect a new Pope.

The way I see the question, much hinges on whether the office of Vicar of Christ and Bishop of Rome are inextricably united or not. At the time of Vatican I there was some debate. The majority of theologians thought they were bound together because Peter shed his blood in Rome, which sort of sealed the deal. Other theologians held that the two, Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ, were indeed separable. In fact, Peter was Vicar of Christ before he was bishop of anywhere. He lead the Church of Antioch and then left, taking Vicar of Christ with him. Had he left Rome for elsewhere, ditto. But he didn’t. Still, it is good question.

The proceedings of the modern conclave point to the codification in the rite that the one who is Bishop of Rome is the head of the College of Bishops, which could be another way of saying Vicar of Christ. I’d have to check the wording again.

UPDATE: I checked Universi dominici gregis:

88. After his acceptance, the person elected, if he has already received episcopal ordination, is immediately Bishop of the Church of Rome, true Pope and Head of the College of Bishops. He thus acquires and can exercise full and supreme power over the universal Church.

One thing is clear, however. Since Benedict’s abdication, even if he was right about being able to divide the papacy into a contemplative and an active role (which it seems he was trying to do… a doubtful enterprise) even if Benedict did retain that charism of being Vicar of Christ he certainly did not retain the role of Bishop of Rome (active).

As an aside, remember how Francis never called himself Vicar of Christ and only Bishop of Rome and even dropped Vicar of Christ as one of his formal titles?

There wasn’t much of a question about Francis having his person firmly seated in that Bishop of Rome chair which – pace some – really does make a difference. His authority as Bishop of Rome (at least) was hardly to be questioned. Moreover, his juridical acts would … should… could… be made firm by the Church herself in an Ecclesia supplet way, that is, the Church herself supplying the legitimacy of the act in cases of doubt.  I’m not talking about his theological teaching on faith and morals.  I’m talking about his juridical acts.  I’m not an expert on Ecclesia supplet, but I’m pretty sure I’m right about this.

Here’s my point.   If were to hold that there was something wrong with the papacy of Francis, that there was something defective in his election or his subsequent teaching, we can still be confident that, in his role as Bishop of Rome (leaving aside the Vicar of Christ dichotomy) he legitimately appointed clergy for the Diocese of Rome.   Cardinals are clergy of the Diocese of Rome.  That’s their origin.  That’s why every cardinal has a titular church in the Diocese of Rome.  That’s why they wear the Roman style biretta (without a pom).  That’s why the College is divided into three orders, Bishops, Priests and Deacons… because in the ancient Roman Church the early parishes, tituli, were entrusted to deacons and priests and the outlying ring around Rome was entrusted to bishops.

Bottom line.  Again, even if we admit that there was something strange about Francis’ tenure, it seems certain that he legitimately appointed a College of Cardinals.

It is precisely the task of this College to elect a new Bishop of Rome… who, by virtue of being Bishop of Rome is the Successor of Peter and, therefore, the Vicar of Christ, head of the Apostolic College.

 

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PASCHALCAzT 2025 – 48: Easter Monday – Divine Symphony

The Roman Station today is St. Peter’s on the Vatican Hill.

Today we heard about what a liturgical octave is. Also, Scott Hahn describes how all of creation is like an orchestra played by angels for the sake of divine worship.

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ROME 25/4– Day 12: Easter Sunday

From 06:20 until 19:59 did the Roman sun shine.

The Roman Curia had, in general, no business today, but … I’ll bet someone checked email and fax in the Sacra Penitenzieria Apostolica!… the Ave Maria is still in their 20:15 cycle.

The Roman Station is at St. Mary Major, which really does make sense, doesn’t it? More than any other church in Rome dedicated to anyone else? Think about it.

An idea for your parish…

And this…

Happier times…

This is odd. Maybe for his “saftety”? Yeah.

White to move and force mate in 8.  Yes… 8.  Except maybe for one move, it isn’t that hard.  You have to find the right intermezzo (better in German: Zwischenzug).

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

There is a huge “Freestyle” (Fischer Random) tourney in Germany right now. Magnus Carlsen has taken the sole lead in the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open: perfect score 5/5. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana along with others are snapping at his heels. I saw some video of the event. It is huge.

For this Eastertide, how about some GREAT BEER?   I personally attest that this is some of the best beer I’ve ever had.  Great with savory sausage and cheeses.  Mmmmmm.  Beeeeerrrrrrrrr.

And you get to help the monks of Norcia build their monastery.  How cool is that?

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PASCHALCAzT 2025 – 47: Easter Sunday

The Roman Station today is at Santa Maria Maggiore. This is fitting since there is a tradition that the first things that Christ did after the Resurrection is visit his mother.

Today Scott Hahn talks about how, by God’s design, all creation is involved in worship of God. How should we worship God? Card. Bacci talks about true peace, which is “tranquilitas ordinis”, which is “concordia ordinata”.

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ROME 25/4– Day 11: Holy Saturday

When the sun rose here in Rome it was 06:28. When it sets at 19:58 it will be two minutes before the setting of the sun behind the Gianicolo, making it somewhat darker at The Parish than it would be on the western side of the hill.

The Ave Maria ought to ring for the Curia at 20:15.

In addition to it being Holy Saturday, it is the Feast of Pope St. Leo IX.

Welcome registrants:

Sally Anne
geoff_brown

We had quite an exercise yesterday with the Good Friday rites.  Stations, the Pre-Sanctified, Tenebrae.  It was long and a great deal of Latin was sung.   Tonight, all 12 prophecies.

I’m giving less attention to internety stuff today, although I did have to post a piece at the other place.

Here are a few more images.  One of you also asked about the contraption that held the candles on the portable ambo we used at Tenebrae.  I’ll post those.

Did you hear the one about the Benedictine and Dominican who walked into a sanctuary?

Contraption.

Which shoe is mine?

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“He descended into Hell” – Notes on “The Harrowing of Hell”

Quiet day, as befitting Holy Saturday.  All is quiet in the Church as Christ’s soon to be reclaimed Body is in the tomb while His human fused divinity harrows Hell.

Starting with some citations in the New Testament we pry open what came to be known as the “harrowing” or “raid” of hell, what Christ did between His death on the Cross and His resurrection.

Originally, the English word “harrow” has to do with preparing ground for tilling.  “Harrowing” involved drawing a kind of grate with downward spikes over the ground to break it up.    Here’s an image from a 16th c Book of Hours:

After the Council Trent was closed, the Roman Catechism was issued in 1566.  It was intended especially to shore up the fundamental doctrine of the clergy and be an aid for pastoral preaching.  I take my title for the columns I post at One Peter Five from Trent, which says that sermons should be giving “at least on Sundays”.

The Catechism explains with characteristic clarity the articles of the Apostle’s Creed and therefore what the “harrowing of hell” was and why Christ did it.

The Roman Catechism states that after His death Christ’s soul, in no way diminished, descended into hell in solidarity with man not to suffer, but to “liberate the holy and the just from their painful captivity, and to impart to them the fruit of His Passion.”

The Catechism then says, “Having explained these things, the pastor should next proceed to teach that …”, … and here let me fulfill the Catechism’s directive,…

Christ the Lord descended into hell, in order that having despoiled the demons, He might liberate from prison those holy Fathers and the other just souls, and might bring them into heaven with Himself. This He accomplished in an admirable and most glorious manner; for His august presence at once shed a celestial lustre upon the captives and filled them with inconceivable joy and delight. He also imparted to them that supreme happiness which consists in the vision of God, thus verifying His promise to the thief on the cross: This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.  […]  But the better to understand the efficacy of this mystery we should frequently call to mind that not only the just who were born after the coming of our Lord, but also those who preceded Him from the days of Adam, or who shall be born until the end of time, obtain their salvation through the benefit of His Passion. Wherefore before His death and Resurrection heaven was closed against every child of Adam. The souls of the just, on their departure from this life, were either borne to the bosom of Abraham; or, as is still the case with those who have something to be washed away or satisfied for, were purified in the fire of purgatory.

One artistic representation I thoroughly enjoy is that the Blessed Fra Angelico.  The Roman Catechism says Christ “despoiled the demons”.   Note what’s under the door Christ has blasted down.  You can right click for a larger version.

Out comes old Adam, first of all, to the New Adam.

That sure reference work for the Catholic faith issued in 1997 in the Latin typical edition (1994 in French), the Catechism of the Catholic Church, covers this article of the Creed in par. 632ff.  The first meaning applied to this phrase was that “Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there” (632).

The place Christ went, the abode of the dead, biblical sheol, is where the none of the dead can see God, regardless of their wickedness or righteousness. Christ descended into sheol to liberate the righteous dead, not the damned.   Thus, the “the Author of life”, by dying destroyed “him who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (635).  Furthermore, as we read in an ancient Holy Saturday sermon in Greek (included in the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours),

He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of Eve.

This article of the Creed underscores Christ as the Second Adam, making right the damage worked by the First Adam in the original sin of our first parents.

It may be that an element of ancient mythologies influenced the telling of this doctrine of the Apostolic Church.  Down through the centuries this idea of the “harrowing of hell” fueled the imagination of Christians and their theological reflection resulting in apocryphal “gospel” accounts, medieval mystery plays, and works of art such as Eastern icons.  There is something paradoxical in the core of the doctrine, namely, that our God, in an indestructible bond with our humanity, might go to hell, even if for a brief and specific mission.

In early Christian apocrypha, such as the Greek fourth century Acts of Pilate or the Latin medieval Gospel of Nicodemus there were imagined dialogues between the King of Glory, Christ, and the Prince of Hades, Satan.  In the medieval period, particularly from 13-16th  century England, there were performances of mystery plays, including of course the dramatic “harrowing of hell”.   Mystery plays were an important force in the revival of modern theatre.  The 13th century Aurea Legenda or Golden Legend compiled by Jacob de Voragine (+1298) includes the tale.

Dante in the Divine Comedy has Virgil give the poet an eyewitness account (Inf 4,52-63).

rispuose: “Io era nuovo in questo stato,
quando ci vidi venire un possente,
con segno di vittoria coronato.54Trasseci l’ombra del primo parente,
d’Abèl suo figlio e quella di Noè,
di Moïsè legista e ubidente;57Abraàm patrïarca e Davìd re,
Israèl con lo padre e co’ suoi nati
e con Rachele, per cui tanto fé,60e altri molti, e feceli beati.
E vo’ che sappi che, dinanzi ad essi,
spiriti umani non eran salvati”.
Replied: “I was a novice in this state,
When I saw hither come a Mighty One,
With sign of victory incoronate.Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,
And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,
Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedientAbraham, patriarch, and David, king,
Israel with his father and his children,
And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much,

And others many, and he made them blessed;
And thou must know, that earlier than these
Never were any human spirits saved.”

In Eastern iconic depictions of the mystery, you see the risen Lord in luminous garb, carrying a Cross, trampling broken doors.  He extends His hand, sometimes to an old man, Adam, or to others below in a cave or tomb-like grotto.  Sometimes we see Dismas, the Good Thief, to whom Christ promised salvation that very day as they were crucified together.  In renaissance frescoes and paintings the same themes continue, but often with the dramatic addition of irritated devil onlookers, probably echoes in paint of the mystery plays common to the era.

Through the ages up to our own day in the Easter vigil liturgy in the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, a sermon known simply as “The Easter Sermon” attributed to St. john Chrysostom (+407) is read, often with dialogue-like participation of the congregation (not “assembly”).  Here is an excerpt:

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh
Isaiah foretold this when he said
“You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?

The “harrowing of hell”, however it took place and however it may be depicted, is an doctrine of faith to which as Christians we give assent.  The central point of this article of the Creed is that the Christ in His atoning Sacrifice has free us from the eternal bonds of death in sin, liberated us from the fear of unavoidable everlasting separation from God.

Whether in our recitation of the Holy Rosary or during Holy Mass, every time you say “he descended to the dead” and in the newer version is “he descended into hell”, do so with hope in your heart and firm belief that Christ’s Sacrifice freed you from the inevitability of hell.

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Truth from T.S. Eliot

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LENTCAzT 2025 – 46: Holy Saturday

Since there was no Mass on Holy Saturday, there was no ancient Roman Station.  However, for the Vigil the catechumens were at the Lateran Baptistry.

Today Scott Hahn talks about how God the Father provided and provides for his children.  We responded with sin.  He responded with more love to help us to our true homeland, Heaven.   Card. Bacci gives us a head start on true Easter.  You’ve heard of “permanent revolution”?  How about “permanent resurrection”!

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ROME 25/4– Day 9-10: Holy Thursday – Good Friday

On good Friday the Roman Sun rose at 06:23 and it set at 19:57. Little by little our days lengthen which is welcome.

The Ave Maria should sound for the Curia at 2015. However, it DOES RING at The Parish™ at the precise time!   I’ve written on that before and I will have a reminder before too long.  Perhaps I will be able to catch a recording of it.

Today’s Station is Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, for obvious reasons.   Listen to today’s LENTCAzT for more.

As you might understand, I haven’t had much going in the way of food, other than some fine lamb yesterday when I went to Constanza with all the priests of The Parish™ for our Holy Thursday observance.  Priests customarily dine together if they can on Holy Thursday for what is the Feast of the Priesthood.  Christ instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper by instituting the Eucharist and telling them to repeat and renew what He did, the salvific Meal that concluded on Calvary when He finally consumed the last wine of  Passover as He died on the Cross.

Abbacchio a scottadito… little lamb cutlets on the grill… scottadito means “finger burner”.

It was great being out with these good men for a nice meal together before the long liturgical work began. There was the Mandatum with washing of feet and the Mass of the Last Supper

and Tenebrae for Good Friday.

Here what the end of the last Miserere after Lauds sounded like with the “earthquake”.

The Blessed Sacrament reposed.

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Good Friday FASTING and ABSTINENCE explained, links to recipes, notes about what breaks the fast, what doesn’t

To aid me in keeping my online time down today, here is something from a couple years back.

It’s Good Friday!   Here are a couple of recipes for good food for this day of fasting and abstinence.

Fr. Z’s Kitchen: Lentils from the Benedictine Monks of Norcia. IMPROVISE – ADAPT – OVERCOME

Fr. Z’s Kitchen: Pasta e ceci alla Romana

On only two days of the year we modern Latin Church Catholics are asked both to fast and to abstain from meat.

According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, Latin Church Catholics are bound to observe fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Here are some details. I have posted them before, and I am sure you know them already, but they are good to review.

FASTING: Catholics who are 18 year old and up, until their 59th birthday (when you begin your 60th year), are bound to fast (1 full meal and perhaps some food at a couple points during the day, call it 2 “snacks”, according to local custom or law – two snacks that don’t add up to a full meal) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Since we are Unreconstructed Ossified Manualists, we pay attention to old manuals.  Prümmer suggests that for the morning snack a piece of bread and 2 ounces of nourishing food is sufficient, and that for the afternoon or evening snack, 8 ounces of nourishing food is permitted to all.  “Sufficient” for what is not entirely clear.  There is a difference between working construction and working at a computer.  This is greatly simplified by taking Good Friday off… if possible.

There is no scientific formula for this. Figure it out.

ABSTINENCE: Catholics who are 14 years old and older are abound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent… and Good Friday in the Triduum.

In general, when you have a medical condition of some kind, or you are pregnant, etc., these requirements can be relaxed.

For Eastern Catholics there are differences concerning dates and practices. Our Eastern friends can fill us Latins in.  As I understand, the Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Church in these USA has followed the Latin rite to a certain extent.  Abstinence from meat is required on all Wednesdays and Fridays of Great Lent, with the the strict fast (abstinence from meat and dairy) on Clean Monday and Good Friday.

The question always comes up….

How about in between?

The other day I had a question via email about vaping.   Vaping!   One can, indeed, “vape”.  However, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to give it up for a day?

Click!

The old axiom, for the Lenten fast, is “Liquidum non frangit ieiunium … liquid does not break the fast”, provided you are drinking for the sake of thirst, rather than for eating. Common sense suggests that chocolate banana shakes or “smoothies”, etc., are not permissible, even though they are pretty much liquid in form. They are not what you would drink because you are thirsty, as you might more commonly do with water, coffee, tea, wine in some cases, lemonade, even some of these sports drinks such as “Gatorade”, etc.

Again, common sense applies, so figure it out.

Drinks such as coffee and tea do not break the Lenten fast even if they have a little milk added, or a bit of sugar, or fruit juice, which in the case of tea might be lemon.

Coffee would break the Eucharistic fast (one hour before Communion), since – pace fallentes – coffee is no longer water, but it does not break the Lenten fast on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday.

You will be happy to know that chewing tobacco does not break the fast (unless you eat the quid, I guess), nor does using mouthwash (gargarisatio in one manual I checked) or brushing your teeth (pulverisatio – because tooth powder was in use back in the day).

If you want to drink your coffee and tea with true merit I suggest drinking it from one of my coffee mugs. I’d like to offer an indulgence for doing so, but that’s above my pay grade.

There’s always the Liquidum non frangit ieiunium mug.

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LENTCAzT 2025 – 45: Good Friday

Today’s Roman Station is Santa Croce in Gerusalemme where the relics of the Passion are venerated on soil brought from Calvary. Scott Hahn speaks about the “once for all” sacrifice which Christ perpetually offers the Father in Heaven and which we renew on our altars.

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YOUR Holy Thursday SERMON NOTES and a POLL about Holy Thursday Washing of Feet

Were there any really GOOD points you heard in sermon for Holy Thursday, at either the Chrism Mass (whenever it was) or the Mass of the Last Supper??  Please share them with us.  Sometimes there are real gems and people don’t always have strong preaching when they are.

Meanwhile, a poll about NOVUS ORDO Holy Thursday and foot washing.  (I can be done in the Vetus Ordo, but it is not encouraged.  It is best done apart from Mass, as we shall here in Rome.)

You have to be registered and approved to comment, and I hope you will, but ANYONE can vote in the poll.

The 2025 Holy Thursday NOVUS ORDO Mass I attended ...

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Holy Thursday Plenary Indulgence

A plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, is granted to the faithful who:

Visit the Blessed Sacrament for adoration lasting at least half an hour;

OR Piously recite the verses of the Tantum ergo after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday during the solemn reposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Tantum ergo Sacramentum Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio. Amen.

V. Panem de caelis praestitisti eis.
R. Omne delectamentum in se habentem.

Oremus: Deus, qui nobis sub sacramento mirabili, passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti: tribue, quaesumus, ita nos corporis et sanguinis tui sacramysteria venerari, ut redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis iugiter sentiamus. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. R. Amen.

Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail, Lo! o’er ancient forms departing Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith for all defects supplying, Where the feeble senses fail. To the everlasting Father, And the Son Who reigns on high With the Holy Spirit proceeding Forth from each eternally, Be salvation, honor blessing, Might and endless majesty. Amen.

R. Thou hast given them bread from heaven.
V. Having within it all sweetness.

Let us pray: O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of Thy Passion: grant, we implore Thee, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of Thy Redemption. Thou who livest and reignest forever and ever. R. Amen. 

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LENTCAzT 2025 – 44: Holy Thursday

Today the Roman Station should be St. John Lateran for the Chrism Mass and the Mass of the Last Supper. Today we hear more from Scott Hahn about John 6 and the Passover Sacrifice.

The text I used was a collection of Lenten Reflections from A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture.

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ROME 25/4– Day 8: Holy Wednesday Birthdays

The Sun rise for Rome came at 06:26. The sun will set beyond the Gianicolo at 19:55.

The Ave Maria Bell is set to ring at 20:15.

Happy Birthday, Papa Ratzinger (1927)

Today is the “birthday” (dies natalis) of St. Benedetto Giuseppe Labre (+1783). He died on the evening of Holy Wednesday (today) and is buried at S. Maria dei Monti. St. Benedict Joseph Labre was not, I believe, fully a member of the Archconfraternity of Ss. Trinità, but he was always around the place, perhaps partaking of its charity.  He was a poor man, French, a Franciscan Tertiary, who wandered much as a pilgrim to different shrines, eventually coming to Rome. He had ecstasies when contemplating the crown of thorns and he would levitate or bilocate. In the last years of his life, he lived in Rome, for a time living in the ruins of the Colosseum.  He was famous as the “saint of the Forty Hours” (Quarant’ Ore) and Eucharistic adoration.  One of the works of the Archconfraternity at Ss. Trinità was monthly Quarant’ Ore.  It was the Eucharistic devotion of the confreres that fueled their charitable works of feeding and housing the pilgrims, the sick and the poor.

St. Benedict Joseph Labre lived by begging.  He is, therefore, dear to my heart.

Here is The Parish’s™ painting of him in the chapel dedicated to St. Philip.  As I write, this side of the church is closed off in scaffolding for restoration.

He is patron of the homeless.   His Mass texts are in the appendix of the Missale Romanum for “aliquibus locis”, this locus being Rome.  However, today being Holy Wednesday, he can only be commemorated.

Welcome registrant:

Crooked Castle 1391

Another saint who died on this day is St. Bernadette Soubirous (+1879).    Her Novus Ordo feast is today, the day of her death, but in the older calendar it is in February.  Watching The Song of Bernadette might be a good thing today.

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.

Not much of an appetite.   Some pizza bianca and mortadella.  Classic.

White to move and mate in 2. HOWEVER… do it without the first move being a check. The first move cannot be check.  (Not hard.)

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

Support the wonderful Summit Dominicans.

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Stop what you are doing and read this. No, really.

At Crisis there is a piece that would make the coldest stone-flint heart, like my own, perhaps miss a beat, which it already does.  HERE

It’s about … well… I’m not going to tell you, but you can trust me and Crisis.

A hint…

The cancerous tumor in Fr. Hollowell’s head was slowly growing when bishops gathered in Baltimore that autumn in 2018 for their plenary assembly, when they voted down—by a nearly two-to-one margin—a proposal that simply asked the Vatican to release all documents related to the numerous criminal allegations against Theodore McCarrick.

 

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