Today is the anniversary of the death 8 B.C. of the ancient Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus – Horace.
Search Fr. Z’s Blog
SHOPPING ONLINE? Please, come here first!
About this blog…
“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
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
PLEASE donate using VENMO!
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
Do you want to show some appreciation?
Do you have a faithful Catholic website that needs competent and reliable tech support?
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
Suburbanbanshee on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (NO – 2nd Ordinary)Our pastor talked about how the whole first chapter of John has many interlinking stories of Jesus inviting disciples and...
MrsAnchor on ASK FATHER: What do we do if the upcoming administration outlaws Mass and the sacraments?Father Please! Sarah Conor from the Terminator Movie was my Mom as a Cradle Catholic. So it wasn’t a pleasant...
ThePapalCount on Daily Rome Shot 54CORRECTED MESSAGE Hi FrZ another interesting shot in Rome where the ancient meets to contemporary. This shop is right across...
thomistking on ASK FATHER: Can I be a Catholic AND a Libertarian?Good answer, Father. Get ready for the onslaught of triggered integralists and distributists.
Semper Gumby on “Those who support Donald Trump should no longer be allowed to publish books or use the Internet or fly on airplanes.”Statement today from Acting SecDef Miller: "While we have no intelligence indicating an insider threat, we are leaving no stone...
ArsAstronautica on ASK FATHER: Why isn’t there a paper book with the Sunday propers in Latin and English?At the risk of being metaphorically burned at the stake ;-) , my wife and I simply use our iPhones...
Jacob on LIVE VIDEO – 18 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – RequiemHello, all those who view Father Z's livestreamed Mass each day. With Father being away for a few days, those...
Semper Gumby on ASK FATHER: Can I be a Catholic AND a Libertarian?KL wrote: "Alot of the sexual revolution stuff is indirectly connected to this decline in living standards..." Some would say...
Semper Gumby on ASK FATHER: Can I be a Catholic AND a Libertarian?ProfKwasniewski: Thank you for adding the Neil McCaffrey memo, he makes several good points. However, it is muddled in several...
Gregg the Obscure on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (NO – 2nd Ordinary)many good points. our pastor is an excellent homilist. i would like him to be more frequently at the Mass...
ProfKwasniewski on ASK FATHER: Can I be a Catholic AND a Libertarian?The great American publisher and political commentator, Neil McCaffrey Jr. (father of Roger McCaffrey of Roman Catholic Books and The...
Lindy on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (NO – 2nd Ordinary)Our priest (visiting) actually spoke of sin! Wowza! He said sin is so minimized today... called so many other things...
crule on CQ CQ CQ: #HamRadio – #ZedNet reminder – Sunday 17 Jan ’21Jonpatrick - you just need the talkgroup ID. The only reason you would want to download radio ID's would be...
philothea.distracted on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (NO – 2nd Ordinary)First of all, about attendance. It was standing room only at the EF Mass I attended. Granted, half of the...
JonPatrick on WDTPRS – 2nd Sunday after Epiphany (TLM) & WDTPRS – 2nd Ordinary (NO): God knows our needs better than we doThis made me think how fleeting things of this world are. Places we knew change beyond recognition. In my 40...
JonPatrick on CQ CQ CQ: #HamRadio – #ZedNet reminder – Sunday 17 Jan ’21Working on getting up and running. Received the Zumspot and DMR radio last week, working on learning how to set...
Books which you must have.
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
Get ready…
Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“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.”
- Fulton Sheen
Therefore, ACTIVATE YOUR CONFIRMATION and get to work!Send Snail Mail to Fr. Z
Fr John Zuhlsdorf
Tridentine Mass Society of Madison
733 Struck St.
PO BOX 44603
Madison, WI 53744-4603
For email HERE
“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
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe if it is useful.
That way I have steady income I can plan on, and you wind up regularly on my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I periodically say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add 200 $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
So far ... 1 towards the 200 target, or 1% of the total.
For a one time donation...
I set up a
CONTINUE TO GIVE
account, which functions rather like PayPal. Some of you use it. Here is a QCode you can use with your smart phones. Try it!
Also, to receive a link to donate via Continue To Give using your smart phone SEND MESSAGE:
4827563 TO: 715-803-4772 (USA)
Some donations also come through CHASE. That works well. I don't think they take any percentage as fees.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-
Recent Posts
- Daily Rome Shot 55
- Daily Rome Shot 54
- Diei duri nox…
- LIVE VIDEO – 18 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – Requiem
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (NO – 2nd Ordinary)
- CQ CQ CQ: #HamRadio – #ZedNet reminder – Sunday 17 Jan ’21
- LIVE VIDEO – 17 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – 2nd Sunday after Epiphany
- Daily Rome Shot 53
- WDTPRS – 2nd Sunday after Epiphany (TLM) & WDTPRS – 2nd Ordinary (NO): God knows our needs better than we do
- Fr. Z with thanks for your notes
- LIVE VIDEO – 16 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – St. Marcellus, Pope, Martyr (Intention: benefactors)
- Daily Rome Shot 52
- ASK FATHER: Can I be a Catholic AND a Libertarian?
- Wherein Fr. Z gives an update about life and changes
- ASK FATHER: Why isn’t there a paper book with the Sunday propers in Latin and English?
- Another sign of the times
- Daily Rome Shot 51
- Question for readers: book search
- LIVE VIDEO – 15 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – St. Paul, Hermit (Intention: benefactors)
- 14 January – Festum Asinorum #FeastoftheAss Day!
- Daily Rome Shot 50
- Various prayers or “Orationes diversae” in the traditional Missale Romanum
- WDTPRS: Collect for the Votive Mass “to beg the grace of dying well”
- LIVE VIDEO – 13 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – Baptism of the Lord (Intention: benefactors)
- Daily Rome Shot 49
- ISS NEWS: 4 at once!
- WDTPRS: Prayer for enemies – Part III
- ASK FATHER: Help for a blind priest who wants to learn the Traditional Latin Mass – UPDATED
- LIVE VIDEO – 12 Jan 2021 – 1200 NOON CST – Traditional Latin Mass – Votive for the grace of a good death
- “Ab arbore autem fici discite parabolam…”
Let us pray…
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.Yes, Fr. Z is taking ads…
Be a “Zed-Head”!
CHALLENGE COINS!
My "challenge coin" for my 25th anniversary of ordination in 2016.
Want one? I do exchanges with military and LEOs, etc.
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
Loading ...
This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Please use my links when shopping! I depend on your help.
WDTPRS POLL
Loading ...
Fr. Z’s stuff is everywhere
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
GREAT causes to support
Nunc est bibendum! is a phrase I believe to be appropriate to this occasion.
Fr. Z:
Interesting that you should mention this: I was just reading some of his poems. This one specifically struck me as particularly appropriate for our times: (taken from Book I, number 34):
Parcus deorum cultor et infrequens
insanientis dum sapientiae
consultus erro, nunc retrorsum
vela dare atque iterare cursus
cogor relictos …
If I was to reorder it for those who might have difficulty understanding I would put it this way:
Insanientis sapientiae parcus et infrequens deorum cultor dum consultus erro, nunc retrorsum cogor dare vela atque cursus iterare relictos.
More or less meaning: “A man of insane wisdom, sparingly devoted to religion, I allowed myself to be deliberately misled, and now I’ve got to turn my sail around and retrace my steps.”
This is said because of some imminent danger showing the horrific divine power in nature which convinces the poet to return to his senses.
How appropriate. I love the phrase “insanis sapientia”. Reminds me of St. Paul teaching about how God used the foolishness of this world to confound the wise. At times these ancients strike me as more christian than ourselves. They had a clearer world view, it would seem.
Andreas: Yes… Horace has had a kind of “conversion” due to a thunderclap in the middle of a clear day. Or so he says. He is being ironic. The midday thunder which so surprised and converted him probably has something to do with suviving intact the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC and obtained the patronage of Octavian’s friend Maecenas, who gave him the Sabine Farm.
The “crazy philosophy” he is talking about is probably Epicureanism. Horace would become of polticial necessity and personal gratitude, an apologist for Augustus and the Roman ways.
I love the oxymorons: “nutty wisdom” and “deliberately err”.
Non usitata, nec tenui ferar
Penna biformis per liquidum aethera
Vates; neque in terris morabor
Longius; invidiaque maior
Urbes relinquam: non ego pauperum
Sanguis parentum, non ego, uem vocas,
Dilecte Maecenas, obibo,
Nec Stygia cohibebor unda.
Iam iam refidunt cruribus asperae
Pelles et album mutor in alitem
Superne; nascunturque leves
Per digitos, humerosque plumae.
Iam Daedalco tutior Icaro
Visam gementis littor Bospori
Syrtesque Gaetulas canorus
Ales, Hyperboreosque campos.
Lib. I, Ode 9
Sorry, but the translation doesn’t follow the syntax.
Even in Horace, the word order is important.
“Insanis sapientiae” goes with consultus. “Consultus,”
as in “iuris consultus”, so, “an expert in unwise wisdom”.
“Parcus deorum cultor et infrequens — “parcus”, he
doesn’t spend much money on sacrifice, and “infrequens”
he doesn’t do it often.
John P
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
labuntur anni, nec pietas moram
rugis et instanti senectae
adferet indomitaeque morti
Someone has to quote it:
Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitinam: usque ego postera
crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex.
Et requiescat in pace magnus poeta atque amabilis.
My dissertation director, the late Professor Robert Carrubba, consummate gentleman and scholar, was a Horace expert (the Epodes). Although I specialized more in Virgil, it remains my fondest accomplishment to have co-authored my first article with him, on the Leuconoe ode 1.11.
See, now I don’t know what any of this means. I wish that I did. It’s times like these that makes me think of how much I do not know, and how thankful that I am for Fr. Z and this blog. It also reminds me of how irritated I get when I think of how much I was NOT taught regarding the Faith, and myriad other things that are discussed here.(thank you 70’s “Catholic” school education)grrrr!
Semper Fi!
hmm… crazy philosopher… Epicureanism… Fr. Z and his culinary passion?? connection?? [Epicureanism, a challenge to Platonism based on the teachings of Epicurus (+270 BC), is fundamentally atomic materialism. This lead to the conclusion that the gods were physical beings composed of atoms and that they were entirely detached from human affairs and had nothing to do with creation. Later this would be Epicureanism’s deepest point of conflict with Christianity, since in the Christian way of seeing things God created the cosmos from nothing and is directly involved with human affairs. But because Epicureanism is materialist, there was an emphasis on pleasure being a good, in fact, one of the only goods. Therefore Epicureans stressed moderate pleasure which allows a person to attain the free state where a person isn’t burdened with fear. In this state a person would be free to pursue knowledge, friendship, and the virtues. However, since your comment was meant to be a nasty jab, I have already removed your ability to read this together with your ability to respond. If you come back via some other IP address and post similar comments, I will take moderate pleasure from doing the same. o{]:¬) ]
Sed non iam Capitolium scandit cum tacita virgine pontifex :-(
non scandit Capitolium pontifex, sed ipse Horatius
nunc etiam crescit laude recens.