I received this very interesting message, which I have been given permission to share.
As I write, it is the Feast of St. Raymond of Peñafort (and of St. Emerentiana).
I haven’t edited this. It is from a reliable source. Ed Condon of The Pillar was there, since I saw a different photo of the altar has his photo credit at their site.
REPORT FROM A SECRET LATIN MASS HELD IN THE US CAPITOL TODAY
The Capitol building and grounds wore a sullen air, almost of foreboding today, as a couple of dozen American Catholics gathered at the South entrance for the first Latin Mass to be celebrated there in living memory.
Capitol police were stationed everywhere, appearing to be deeply engrossed in conversations among themselves. They barely glanced at us.
Aside from them, the nation’s beloved Capitol was empty — no school groups, no lovers snapping selfies — just this quiet, self-conscious group of Catholics, filing silently into a makeshift chapel set up in an anonymous meeting room.
They had come at the personal invitation of Speaker Mike Johnson and Chairman Jim Jordan, to mark the one year anniversary of the release of an internal FBI memo smearing them and their families as ‘extremists’ and ‘domestic terrorists’.
When that memo became public, the head of the FBI was called before Congress to explain this targeting of American Catholics. Christopher Wray repeatedly denied that Catholics were the subjects of the FBI’s criminal investigations. But the memos from Portland and Richmond belied Mr Wray’s testimony.
The writers of those memos are still in their jobs. Mr Wray remains in his office. Both are apparently above the Bill of Rights.
There was standing room only in the meeting room chapel. All of us in that room knew that our presence there was being duly noted by the US intelligence apparatus. All of us
All of us knew that we were not allowed to know the identity of the priest who celebrated the Mass. All of us, on up to the octogenarians kneeling with difficulty on that utilitarian carpet, knew that we were taking a risk.
We were there anyway.
Why was I there? I flew in to DC expressly for this Mass in order to make a point to both the President of the United States who authorized this outrage against Catholics and to the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington from whom the celebration of this Mass was hidden, for fear of reprisals against the clergy present.
Here’s my point, gentlemen. This Mass was celebrated by my ancestors, going straight back to Roman antiquity. My own father, in whose veins ran the blood of the Roman Army, rode shotgun as a copilot and navigator on the B24 bombers in World War Two. His brother was in the first Army Ranger unit in the Philippines. My cousins served in Vietnam and my late husband put 35 years into the US Army Medical Corps.
Gentlemen, I have a God-given right to worship as I see fit in this country that the men in my family risked their lives for. And your atavistic, power-mad impulses notwithstanding, I will do exactly that.
I will kneel on the carpet of Capitol meeting room, surrounded by my fellow believers. I will revel in the breath-taking Gregorian chant redolent of early Christian worship in the catacombs. And I will receive my Savior in Communion on the tongue.
And I will do so as a free woman, because my freedom was purchased by the blood of patriots whose sandals you are not fit to tie.
My experience today at the Mass at the Capitol was a poignant juxtaposition of a troubled DC officialdom against the thousand year old Mass of the Saints.
An unforgettable experience in this Year of Our Lord, 2024.
St Raymond of Penafort, Ora pro Nobis!
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Praise to Thine eternal merit,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This brings me more happiness than TC has brought me sorrow.
I’m picturing the what-ifs had Biden attended…but in charity I’ll keep said humor to myself.
A significant day in American history. Deo gratias.
Wonders never cease! Also today was the Feast of The Espousal of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Saint Joseph https://tridentine-mass.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-espousal-of-blessed-virgin-mary.html
As a Canadian who loves and reveres the United States of America I feel a great joy in seeing this. The power of the Mass! I suspect great things from this most powerful act. As a Canadian, God Bless the USA!
Traditionally minded Catholics often speak of a retreat to the catacombs, but the U.S. Capital building? As St John Henry Newman would say, “Most wonderous phenomena.” Great stuff!
Ah, that’s wonderful. Interesting as well, that in this case it happens to be a woman who is showing such integrity and faith, also courage. Good on ya, lady. And God be with you, and all of us. Special thanks to Rep. Johnson and Speaker Jordan.
Wow …. astounding.
It really gives us out here in the ditches a little hope.
There are other people like us who love Our Lord Jesus.
God bless Speaker Johnson and Chairman Jordan.
A Mass is worth many Washington DCs
Deo gratias!
Now THAT’S what I’m talking about! We need more TLMs like these, especially in those places that are hostile towards the TLM. Every time I hear in the news of a TLM being shut down here or there or being restricted to certain Sundays only, and what have you, I often hope that the members of such TLM communities are at least finding alternative (if secret) solutions to continue with their TLM. The catacombs are the best place where the TLM faithful can protect and preserve their inviolable conscience from the modern day persecutors, who in our era come not from secular forces, but from within the Church hierarchy. The heretics at the Vatican have no legitimate authority over the TLM for obvious reasons. I’ll take Quo Primum over TC any time, hands down.
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Quite the upgrade from a Holiday Inn!
This is one of the most beautiful, hopeful things I have read in a very long time.
God bless the people who made this happen, and God bless you, Father, and your correspondent, for sharing it with us.
Hope springs eternal. Deo gratias.
The Second Century Father of the Faith, Tertullian, coined the phrase: “The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.” I would say that celebrating the Holy Mass where blasphemers and haters thrive is second only to those who’ve given their lives for the Glory of God. And this, too, is scattering the seeds of Faith. The room was made Holy, and that holiness has the power to turn this nation. Well done to the brave participants.
If any place needed this, it is our Capital. The Demons must have been screaming.
I had the experience of the TLM in a hotel meeting room when I went on a pilgrimage; I also have seen photos of the Mass being said on a battlefield of WWII. Whether it is in a grand cathedral, the tailgate of a truck on a battlefield, or a lowly US Capitol meeting room, the Mass is the best and most wonderful worship we can give to God!
Was it kept secret from our government or from our Pope
This brings me Hope – thanks be to God – that this “time of horror” in the Church may yet be overcome , and Holy Mercy may yet be outpoured more and more for the salvation of many, many who are lost.
I hope folks didn’t have their phones with them.
If anyone plans to do anything like this in the future, and if you want to at least attempt to maintain some level of anonymity, do NOT bring your phone. Not even if it’s in “airplane mode” (there are videos showing how the phones are tracking your location even when disconnected).
Just something to consider.
Is it a secret as to whom the celebrant was? Very wonderful to hear!
“Soon we will have priests reduced to the role of social workers and the message of faith reduced to a political vision. Everything will seem lost, but at the right time, only in the most dramatic phase of the crisis, the Church will be reborn. It will be smaller, poorer, almost catacumbal, but also holier. For it will no longer be the church of those who seek to please the world, but the church of believers in God and his Eternal Law. The revival will be the work of a small, seemingly insignificant, but indomitable, remnant, undergone a process of purification. Because that’s how God works A small flock withstands evil.” Pope Benedict XVI
God bless everyone who organized and attended this Mass. “… I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
Once upon a time, we were at our wit’s end about the abortuary in our neighborhood. We arranged secret Masses (with Bishop’s permission) in the office building where the killings were taking place, one floor below. Before long, the building owner declined to renew the lease with the abortionists. Deo gratias.
Overwhelmed reading this; tears of joy, gratitude, and love for the Lord and for the bravery of these people! There’s also sorrow that it has come to this; it’s not the country I used to know.
What a joy for those present at the Mass in the Capitol.
We are a force in Naples Florida also. We had our first Masses on 1/21/24 at our new Corpus Christi Chapel.
Over 600 in attendance at the 9:30 am Mass.
If in the area, please join us. 5975 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples, FL.
https://laurendphotographyllc.pixieset.com/corpuschristichapelsfirstmasses/
Pardon my ignorance, but doesn’t Mass require an altar stone? The table appears to have an altar cloth but nothing more.
On that subject, I have contemplated getting an altar from Saint Joseph’s Apprentice for our priests from the local abbey, assuming that we will need to go underground in the near future. The long lead time discouraged me, which was silly. If I had ordered it when I first considered it we would have received it months ago.
As for WVC’s comment: I would be proud for the spies to know I had attended!
Were this event intended only to defy His Eminence, it could have been done in a hotel room, or in a living room. But it was a response to the unjust actions of a corrupt Department of “Justice” against devout and God-fearing Americans, guilty of no other crime than to worship according to their legitimate beliefs. I can tell you on good authority, dear reader, that it was not undertaken lightly, nor without awareness of any possible consequences (which would probably happen anyway).
Ha! They put one over on Wilton!
I trust there was a priest-hole nearby and escorts on stand-by to wisk the priest to safety should
Cromwell’sthe police intervene.This brought tears to my eyes
Reminds me of the beautiful secret Masses, mostly non-TLM, people attended during COVID pseudocrisis when the American bishops banned public Masses and even confessions throughout the country. At least two priests (in two different parts of the country) I know who did this wonderful act of love for the people of God told me that the local police was quite aware of these secret Masses and had no problem with them. In one case, when a priest was hearing clandestine confessions, a police officer was sitting in his squad car looking out for any snitches trying to sell out the good priest who was trying to save souls (unlike his bishop).
The FBI targeting so-called “extremists” reminds me of the anti-Catholicism that was rampant throughout U.S. history.
The action of these courageous people who said no to the corrupt powers-that-be by assisting at this Mass reminds me of what the Church will most likely be forced to become – underground, as it was in the beginning.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in his Saints!!!!!!!!
Wow! The Traditional Mass held at the US Capitol by invitation of the non-Catholic Speaker. Very uplifting to hear. Sad though that the priest’s identity had to be hidden for fear of reprisal from his Ordinary.
“Hear us, O holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, and vouchsafe to send Thy holy Angel from heaven, to guard, cherish, protect, visit and defend all that are assembled in this place”
While Card. Gregory deserves to have this shoved down his throat, I shudder to think what reprisals he will plan on. If the organizers had good sense, they pulled in a priest from another diocese.
Regarding the quote from Pope Benedict above: maybe he was being given prophetic grace to pen those words, but if not, he is taking dramatic license to paint a picture far, far worse than anything we have ever had SINCE the catacombs: while the Church was first growing from a few hundreds and thousands, she underwent terrible trials. Since then we have never had a shrinking of the entire Church, around the world, of such magnitude as he depicts, and God has never employed such a severe winnowing on His Church, such that everywhere She declines to a mere pittance. During the Arian crisis in the East, the West was (mostly) solid in the faith. During the persecution in England, France and Spain were solid, and so on.
Because that’s how God works He hasn’t in the past, not like that.
Over at The Pillar, the comm box on this story has a surprising (to me, at least) number of anti-TLM comments from the peanut gallery. We, in the TLM subculture, perhaps were spoiled a bit during the glorious 15 years of Summorum Pontificum in which it seemed like we were largely left alone. Traditionis Custodes made it safe, even fashionable, to hate us again. And that’s okay. Being a despised minority ain’t all bad. It’s pulling us together and strengthening our resolve. I’m constantly reminded of the wise words of St Edmund Campion…. “In condemning us, you condemn all of your own ancestors.” And… “The expense is reckoned. The enterprise is begun. It is of God, and it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted, so it must be restored.”
Congressman Meuser (R-PA) has a great record representing the folks between Harrisburg and Scranton up to the NY line. He is Roman Catholic and while I don’t know his involvement it might be a nice thing to send him and his staff note. The logistics (esp. from the staffers) around this Mass are fascinating.
Not only were the demons probably screaming during that Mass. I would also guess that any curses that may be involved in our current state of government got dispelled that day!
Given how evil that place is, I am shocked it did not spontaneously combust and go up in flames. That being said it is good to know that at least something close to an exorcism happened there.
Oh, the irony in a den of thieves allowing the Latin Mass when others won’t.
When I posted this, I left it alone. I didn’t edit. I didn’t change the subject, even though all caps tend to be taken as shouting.
After reading comments, I’ll suggest something. This was an important thing that happened. It seems to me that it is not a time to strut or go “neener neener” or use imagery that might appeal the Lovecraft.
What is very much needed is a cheerful “Non nobis”. Perhaps you have in one of your prayer books the text of the Te Deum. That would be nice.
When you have been unjustly beaten, reviled, marginalized for a while, it feels good to get back a little of your own. However, even in having a single good day in the midst of many bad, all glory goes to God.
Also, we would like to have it happen again. Right?
Well done, good and faithful servants!
Frankly, after reading this I shed a few tears. I am proud of these people.
Also, everyone should get a Faraday bag for their phone. In the bag, your phone can’t be traced. Mission Darkness makes some good ones. I am not affiliated with them in any fashion, by the way.
From American history, two other surprises. Washington’s Delaware crossing. And the Doolittle B-25 raid on Tokyo. Sneaky ‘mericans! Viva Christo Rey!
“They may have the buildings. But we Have the Faith”-paraphrase of St. Athanasius