Prof. Robert Royal, editor of The Catholic Thing, recently concluded an online course on Dante’s essential Divine Comedy. I followed it and it was excellent. Now he will have an online course on St. Augustine’s Confessions. The online weekly classes begin on … Read More →
At the traditional parish in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, there was a nice ceremony in honor of all the saints. This could also be done on the Feast of Holy Relics, on 1o December in the 1962 calendar. Before … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Pope Francis has said that he is going to name St. Irenaeus of Lyon a “Doctor of the Church”. Is it possible that too many doctors, like too many pope saints, waters down the whole thing? … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Our pastor is a wonderful, faith-filled priest who absolutely loves the traditional liturgy. We are lucky to have him. He’s also a magnificent preacher. However, I’ve noticed he sometimes doesn’t preach at Sunday Mass. Even though … Read More →
Today is the feast of St. Zachariah, the prophet of the Old Testament. Here is the entry in the Martyrologium Romanum with a translation. 1. Commemoratio sancti Zachariae, prophetae, qui populum de exsilio in terra promissionis reversurum prophetavit eique regis … Read More →
My emphases: “I speak not only to the communicant, but also I say to the priest who ministers the Sacrament: Distribute this gift with much care. There is no small punishment for you, if being conscious of any wickedness in … Read More →
Lo those many years ago in Rome, I was in school studying the Fathers of the Church (Patristics) with one of the fine young Jesuits who are rising up in many places. I just received a new book by this … Read More →
At Crisis there is a piece by Paul Krause which knocks one out of the park. He writes about reverence in worship. His starting point is a Christological view of anthropology and, therefore, the virtue of Religion (though he doesn’t … Read More →
WARNING BELOW… Roman Station: St. Lawrence outside the walls An examination of our conscience is a humbling experience. When we look to see who really are inside, we can have different reactions. Sometimes we find things which frighten and discourage … Read More →
I was asked in email what I thought of the use of St. Augustine’s Letter 229 in the section on war in the new encyclical, risibly entitled in Italian Fratelli tutti. The encyclical says that wars are bad. I think we … Read More →
Today is the Feast of St. Lawrence. In 400, or thereabouts, in St. Augustine’s see of Hippo, a miles, a soldiers, probably a kind of police officer, did something very bad. He probably killed someone. The town went nuts and rioted … Read More →
New word for the day: hexachord I think my production skills have improved a bit since then! OLDIE TEXT Originally: 24 June 2007 Our PODCAzT for this Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist presents a selection from … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I have a number of volumes of St. Augustine’s writings, almost entirely English translations. However, I recently acquired a volume of his writings in Latin and the title page refers to him as “Sancti Aurelii Augustini.” … Read More →
In the Novus Ordo calendar Epiphany (which is supposed to be 12 days after Christmas – the reason it is called “Twelfth Night”) is sometimes moved to the Sunday. I suppose that they reasoned that more people would celebrate the important … Read More →
So far… 1st Sorrow – The Prophecy of Simeon 2nd Sorrow – The Flight into Egypt Now we turn to… The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:43–45) In the Presentation, the Lord – the … Read More →
Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, is well known to readers of this blog as a charlatan theologian. He was once the editor of Jesuit-run Amerika, but in 2005 the CDF ousted him due to his stances on the use of condoms, … Read More →
Today is the feast of St. Edith Stein, co-patroness of Europe. Ethnically Jewish, she converted and entered Carmel as Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In 1942 she was rounded up by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, where she … Read More →
In the traditional calendar, the Feast of the Visitation, 2 July, came at the end of the long-suppressed Octave of John the Baptist. In the Novus Ordo it now falls on 31 May, between the Annunciation and the Birth of … Read More →
I put on my patristicist cap today with super excitement. I saw at NLM Greg DiPippo’s spiffy post which conveys news from Italian media about forensic analysis of the bones of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor, who died in 397. … Read More →
When confusing things happen that leave people upset, legitimately, I have often written that that we should stay calm. This is for several reasons. Each horrid thing that clerics do or strange thing they say is further proof that this … Read More →
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“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
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
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
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“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.”
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“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.”
“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
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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
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.
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.
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