John Sonnen at Orbis Catholicus has great shots of seminarians from the Propaganda College in their college cassocks.
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
Fr. Z’s Podcasts RSS Feed
- 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
Recent Comments
- ProfessorCover on A ‘Cri de Coeur’ from the heartland: “I think “Cri de Coeur”’s cry illustrates two things: 1. There are a lot of Bishops who outright hate the…”
- TonyO on A ‘Cri de Coeur’ from the heartland: “It should be rightly difficult to imagine a Cardinal, a collaborator of the Pope, encouraging an action which breaks an…”
- Jim R on Daily Rome Shot 1561: “The Admiral Comte de Grasse, whose fleet bottled up Cornwallis at Yorktown making the American victory possible, is interred at…”
- Imrahil on LENTCAzT 2026 – 11: Ember Saturday 1st Week in Lent – “Know Thyself!”: ““including all the Popes since Leo XIII”… well, there’s one exception to that now. Otherwise, thank you very much!”
- G. Thomas Fitzpatrick on 2 March – Blog Maintenance & Migration Day – DONE! “Cleanup in aisle 2,5,6…7…9…”: “Is “Tracer Bullet” a Calvin & Hobbes reference, Father?”
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
“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.”
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
Do you want to show some appreciation?
Polls
Loading ...ABORTION PILL RESCUE NETWORK
Your support is important. Thanks in advance.
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT comDonate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
Good coffee and tea. Help monks.

CLICK and say your daily offerings!
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.
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!
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.”- 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 via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT comAs 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
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 1st Sunday in/of Lent 2026
- Daily Rome Shot 1561
- “And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse…”
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 13: Monday in the 2nd Week in Lent – “Everything became clear to me.”
- A ‘Cri de Coeur’ from the heartland
- 2 March – Blog Maintenance & Migration Day – DONE! “Cleanup in aisle 2,5,6…7…9…”
- Daily Rome Shot 1560
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 12: 2nd Sunday in Lent – Benedict XVI from Lent of sad 2013
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 11: Ember Saturday 1st Week in Lent – “Know Thyself!”
- On this Ember Friday we are 38 days out from Easter. What does the number 38 mean to St. Augustine?
- “The bread was fresh and was good. The cheese was not and was excellent.”
- Daily Rome Shot 1559
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 10: Ember Friday 1st Week in Lent – “Ego te absolvo” is your sure guarantee!
- Two items worthy of your precious time
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 09: Thursday 1st Week in Lent – Law and Order
- WDTPRS – Collect of Ember Wednesday of Lent (TLM & Novus)
- Daily Rome Shot 1558
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 08: Ember Wednesday 1st Week in Lent – The Four Preachers
- Daily Rome Shot 1557
- Brief summation of Bp. Schneider’s appeal to Pope Leo about the SSPX
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 07: Tuesday 1st Week in Lent – Against the wicked
- Daily Rome Shot 1556
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 06: Monday 1st Week in Lent – Bonds
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-02-18 – Ashes
- ASK FATHER: Why are Sunday “of Lent” in the Novus Ordo and “in Lent” in the TLM?
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 1st Sunday in/of Lent 2026
- Daily Rome Shot 1555
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 05: 1st Sunday of Lent – ANGELS!
- Daily Rome Shot 1554
- Card. Müller: a canonical solution for the SSPX
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.
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
The "sign of peace" during Mass in the Ordinary Form...
- I dread it as it approaches and think of ways to avoid it. (36%, 9,555 Votes)
- I tolerate it. (35%, 9,195 Votes)
- I hate it so much I won't go to Mass where it is done. (12%, 3,205 Votes)
- I like it and am happy to do it. (11%, 2,955 Votes)
- I don't care one way or another. (6%, 1,696 Votes)
Total Voters: 26,606
Loading ...WDTPRS POLL
Should the Bishops of the USA have us return to obligatory meatless Fridays during the whole year and not just during Lent?
- Yes, and I think this is very important. (81%, 15,546 Votes)
- Yes, I guess so. (9%, 1,716 Votes)
- No, I hesitate about such a move. (5%, 900 Votes)
- No, this would be a really bad idea. (3%, 511 Votes)
- I don't care. (2%, 431 Votes)
- What's penance? (1%, 152 Votes)
Total Voters: 19,255
Loading ...






















Oh how all seminarians should look and so few do
Those aren’t Europeans! I love to see Catholics from the rest of the world. I pray for the spread of the Gospel to all people!
Splendid photo. Deo Gratias, Tom
Do these guys revert to a regular black cassock wants they graduate or do they retain the rite of this cassock for the rest of their lives?
Revert to a roman cassock. All the Roman colleges have their own distinctive cassocks, though almost all have fallen into disuse since VII.
Impressive!
Trying to remember….wasn’t the cassock of the Pontifical North American College of the same style, but with different piping/sash….perhaps blue? Has that “fallen from favor?’
Anyone…anyone.
There are photos from the Scots college somewhere online…
The boys of the NAM served Mass for the Sovereign Pontiff in their blue piped cassocks with red fascias some time last year, splendid!
The cassocks looks very much like a black chinese chang-sam with red trim. I wonder if any alterations were needed besides the colour?
I wish all seminarians looked like this. It is a perfect illustration of how clergy are expected to look in the eyes of lay people. Men of God should look different from lay people and it adds to the aire of respect we have for our Priests. I know people will say it makes no difference what a Priest is wearing and how good they are as a Priest but for me it helps to establish their roles and mine which certainly differ…What I think many Priest fail to realize, maybe because we do not tell them, but we love the look and clerical garb. There are untold millions Isuppose who prefer them to dress traditionally and different from us, but it the modernist with the open, upfront agendas…Most of us are just in the backround and do not agree with their thoughts..They just get the ear of the Priest more often as they tend to be the outspoken ones….
The official cassock of the Pontifical North American College has a red sash, red piping and several blue buttons near the top. (Get it? With the collar, it’s red white and blue.) It is still used (usually under a surplice) by Masters of Ceremonies at the NAC in liturgical functions. I remember thinking that the MC at a NAC Mass was the youngest monsignor I had ever met until it was explained to me. Shane is correct, after ordination, all Roman seminarians went to the standard black cassock. (Just like the West Point cadets go to regular Army uniforms when they are commissioned.)
If only this was a common sight in american seminaries and parishes.
As a former student at Propaganda College I would like to share some interesting information about the College Cassock. It was designed by St John Leonardi when the College was founded to educate priests for the Missions, hence its name. The red sash and piping symoblise the real possibility in those days, and probably even today of facing martyrdom on the missions; the five red buttons on the sleeves and the breast represent the five wounds of Christ and the the three red buttons on the collar the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. At one time, I believe,I am not sure if it still applies, former students had the privilege of being buried in their College Cassock. Propaganda is the only college in Rome to still retain the use of the cassock for everyday wear, not just for liturgical functions. Students are also given a Cappa Nigra of heavy wool when they arrive at the College and it comes in very handy during the cold, damp Roman winter.
I had to go to Rome to see the cassocks worn on the streets and how wonderful it was, Just like “The Scarlet And The Black” movie and the best part you knew who to ask certain Q’s of. To bad it was also ‘surpressed’, or was it? just askin
ssoldie: “I had to go to Rome to see the cassocks worn on the streets and how wonderful it was”
You went all the way to Rome just to see cassocks being worn on the street? Talk about curiosity!…
Interestingly, the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus Ohio also wore these cassocks. The College was, then, directly under the Propaganda.
And, if memory serves, the Teutonic College students were distinguished by cassocks the color of boiled lobsters, no?
A priest in a cassock is a powerful way to visually proclaim the Roman Catholic Faith. When I recently accompanied a priest to a local store who was wearing a cassock, it was really something to see people’s reactions. Instant respect.
My first reaction was that this was a lot of very young monsignors. I wish all clergy, religious and seminarians would return to their distinctive clothing.
Is it just me, or does the name “Propaganda College” sound weird?
The Roman seminaries’ cassocks: http://zadokromanus.blogspot.com/2005/02/lost-feature-of-ecclesiastical-rome.html
Some Pictures of different Roman seminaries’ cassocks (including Scots and German): http://romanmiscellany.blogspot.com/2006/12/roman-dress.html
What a cool picture!
Yeah-I wish all seminarians and priests dressed like this!
A correction to one description of the North American College house cassock given above: it is a double-breasted black cassock, with blue piping and buttons, a crimson sash, and pendant strings. While it is sadly not currently worn to classes at the Universities, it continues to be worn on different occasions within the life of the College. There were about ten new ones made around five years ago.
I think the Russicum seminarians wear a plain black Russian style podriasnik.
The Ukrainian College wears a cassock like the Propaganda, but where it is black it is the blue of the Ukrainian flag and where red, yellow instead. Blech!
Nick,
As I pointed out in my comment, Propaganda Fide was founded as a missionary college for the training of missionaries back in the seventeenth century to meet the need of the great missionary expansion in the New World and the Far East. Propaganda Fide is simply Latin for the Propagation of the Faith, or ‘for the spreading of the faith.’ It is only in recent times the word ‘propaganda’ has taken on sinister overtones, especially by one Josef Goebbels, minister of progaganda for the Nazi regime. The devil delights in inverting that which is good and holy for his own nefarious means: in this case the proclamation of the truth to become the dissemination of death dealing lies. In the 1960s the Congregation of Propaganda Fide changed its name to the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, but the College, the Urbanum, named after Pope Urban VIII has remained in popular nomenclature, Collegio Urbanum de Propaganda Fide, or ‘Prop’ for short. I dare say there are those who think the new name of the Congregation is still a bridge too far! [South Brisbane, et al, perhaps?]
Fr Z
Thanks for this post and the links – it took me on a pleasant trip down memory lane, as I am sure it did for others.
God bless