Happy 14th Birthday, Blog!

On 8 December 2005, I posted this photo.  This blog project began.

Today is the 14th anniversary of this blog.

This photo was a shot from my apartment window in Rome on the evening of the day Pope Benedict was elected.

I started it with the original intention of it being an archive for articles I was writing for The Wanderer about liturgical translations.  Thus, it’s original name.  That column, by the way, began before the release of Liturgiam authenticam.

That was the intention, but the blog rapidly took on a life of its own.

Since I started keeping stats, on 23 November 2006, I have had about 95 million page views and 62.6 million unique visits.

Dear readers, please accept my thanks for everything, your comments and feedback, your prayers and your patience with me.

Because tomorrow morning I will be deacon for a Solemn Mass at the Throne with Cardinal Burke today, Sunday, I will say Mass privately as soon as possible for you donors and benefactors.

This is what the blog looked like back then.  A screen shot from about a month after its inception.

16_12_08_wdtprs_2006

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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28 Comments

  1. Ms. M-S says:

    A happy anniversary indeed! Just recalling the words in your podcast about guardian angels seeding their anonymous suggestions in our thoughts and leaving us to bring the work to fruition, I wonder if you realized that the archive for the writings would turn out to be such a haven for the readers?

    And that little insert above of the painting! I mistook it for an announcement of Fr. Z’s 2020 calendar (with all the paintings you often display) available here. I’d buy several!

  2. DebbieInCT says:

    YAY!!!! And what a tremendous blessing your blog has been for me in my conversion and continuing formation. Celebrating Our Lady’s Feast and God’s awesome providence with you today. Thank you, Fr.!

    And I agree with @Ms. M-S: “a haven for readers” indeed!!! well-said! And I like the idea of a calendar, too. :)

  3. Tamara T. says:

    Happy Birthday!! A very big thank you to you Father, for your tireless efforts to keep us informed. You have helped me tremendously.

    Tammy

  4. Lurker 59 says:

    This blog has been a font of water in the deserts of life that I have passed through. It is a refreshment for a parched soul.

  5. Irish Timothy says:

    Congratulations and thank you for this blog and all you do for us Father Z!

  6. Fr. Kelly says:

    Congratulations. I’m one of those who came to the blog through your Wanderer column.
    I found those articles to be such a help in prayer that I wanted to learn more about the mind behind them.
    It has been tremendously fortifying to follow the blog through the years

    Ad multos annos Fr. Z and Wdtprs!

  7. Many thanks for all your good work here and elsewhere! Ad multos annos!

  8. jaykay says:

    Many happy returns to the blog, and many thanks to you, Father.

  9. Marion Ancilla Mariae II says:

    Congratulations, Father Z. Thank you so much for all you do for us. In a world in which many seem to have forgotten Christ, or to have recreated Him in their own image, your blog has long since been one of the oases of sanity and holy piety for many of us wayfarers. What a blessing you are. O Father Z, live forever!

  10. Tito Edwards says:

    Happy Anniversary Father Zed!

    Here’s to another 14 years of evangelization!

  11. Kathleen10 says:

    Congratulations! Let the critics see if they can keep a blog going for 14 years, that people will read anyway, let alone put up those numbers, hah!
    You and your blog have become solid ground in a world of shifting sand. I know God will richly reward you for your fidelity and your compassion to your readers. Thank you!

  12. RosaryRose says:

    I thank God for you, Fr Z. May God continue to bless you and this blog.

  13. Gab says:

    Thank you, Father Z. The work you put into this blog has helped a great deal in my faith formation. God bless you!

  14. tho says:

    Father Z, you are the greatest. I have been wandering in the desert, and your blog is my oasis. Please keep up your work, we need you.

  15. Just Some Guy says:

    You should have a big solemn high for the 25th!

  16. Andreas says:

    Alles alles Gute, Herr Pfarrer!!

  17. Sportsfan says:

    Thanks for all your hard work.
    It has helped me unmeasurably.

  18. Semper Gumby says:

    Thank you for your superb blog Fr. Z.

  19. mysticalrose says:

    I’ve been reading this blog almost from the beginning. Without it, I would never have found the Latin Mass, which is the greatest gift I have ever been given. Thank you for your dedication and work, Father.

  20. Diana says:

    Happy anniversary! Thank you for everything you do for us, and for God.

  21. DanW says:

    Happy Anniversary Father!

  22. UncleBlobb says:

    Thank you, dear Father Z. God bless you!

  23. grateful says:

    I can’t remember how I first came across your website.
    I think at the time you had a birdfeeder we could watch.
    You have a very calming influence amid all the chaos and help us to keep our perspective.
    How time-consuming it must be for you to never take a day off.
    Thank you for being such a faithful servant of God
    Thank You Jesus, for giving us Fr Z (and his sense of humor)

  24. JonPatrick says:

    Congratulations Father! I started reading this blog off and on shortly after I started taking my faith seriously and attending the TLM in 2009. It has become my regular weekday breakfast routine now.

  25. Mariana2 says:

    Thanks, Father Zed! And many happy returns!

  26. Ellen says:

    I’ve been reading your blog for probably the day of its inception. I still remember years ago when I got home from work, my parents had been watching a program (I think it was on Fox) and they said the commentator was so informative and his name was Father Zul something and I said “It’s Father Z”!!!!!!!

  27. OK_doc says:

    (With apologies to real poets everywhere)

    There once was a priest from Wisconsin
    Who loved the Mass of Tradition
    He started a blog
    To pierce through the fog
    And admonish us “Go to Confession.”

    Happy Anniversary Fr. Z!

  28. Paul M says:

    Happy anniversary, Father Z! Thank you for keeping up this wonderful blog (and to your great work at COL before that); it has been a source of inspiration as well as calm in these troubled times. YOu have helped me greatly in my faith formation and have had a great influence on passing it down to my 3 sons. I can’t thank you enough.

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