Fr. Z's Blog

When, you ask, was sunrise in Rome? It was at 5:38. And you will likely ask when the sunset was, too. It was at 20:37.

The Ave Maria for the Curia is in the 21:00 cycle.

In the New Fangled calendar, it is the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury.

WELCOME REGISTRANTS:

Dom Anselm Marie
Odile-Lyllian

A couple things.

Firstly, I stupid, when planning this sojourn, didn’t consider that I’d be departing during the Octave of Pentecost.  The Octave finishes with the great feast of The Parish™.   However, that means that their celebration of St. Philip Neri with it’s Triduum is pushed out to next week.   Moreover, next week we would have Corpus Christi, both on Thursday and externally with the procession about the area.   “Duh”, quoth I in the mirror.

Also, every once in a while I have something flair up in my upper back and neck, especially upper and middle trapezius and which feels rather like they are on fire if I think about moving them or disturbing them by activities like breathing.  This has precisely flared up a couple days ago, really bad yesterday.  BUT… I scheduled my departure from Rome for tomorrow Thursday 28 May.

I got on the horn and then the interwebs and I changed my flights to NYC and then for “home”.   Since mom is no-longer there, I have no pressing human reason to delay my return.   Hence, I will stay in Rome through Corpus Christi.

CLICK

That said, were any of you of a mind to contribute to my flight change charges, I’d be grateful.

[UPDATE Okay… that was fast.  A few of you popped in right away and my ticket change was covered, with an upgrade.  Thank you.  If anything else comes, I will apply it to travel expenses for the upcoming conference for priests which Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center For Biblical Theology holds every July.  

For the ticket change (in fact, given the dates a couple of those were for my anniversary, but I’ll take them for my ticket change: Thanks to DM, SS, DS, IG, SN.]

And that said, on Monday I literally finished all of my Mass stipends.  Sundays and some other days are always dedicated for my benefactors in general and also for my Roman donors in particular.  However, I’ve worked through all the intentions which had from before I came to Rome.  Therefore, I can take some intentions.  HERE I’m only in Rome for another 10 full days and I’ll say Mass for my benefactors on this Sunday 31 May and 7 June Trinity Sunday (external Corpus Christi at The Parish™) and for Roman Donors on Thursday 4 June (real Corpus Christi). So, I don’t have that many slots. However, I’ll finish whatever intentions I have remaining when I am again Stateside. Please get in touch with me through the form I linked and don’t jump the gun, even if you have asked for Masses before and know the drill.

White mates in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Original Notes from :

In this PODCAzT I dissect the Pentecost Sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus, also used during the Octave of Pentecost in the traditional Roman calendar.

I give you some background on what a sequence is, what an octave is and then we start drilling.

First we hear the Latin text and a good translation.   Then see start looking at the structure of the prayer.

That is when things get interesting.  I found a few things I had never noticed.

087 09-06-03 Veni Sancte Spiritus – The Pentecost Sequence dissected [The link probably won’t work… but there is the old page from 2009]

Booklet for the Mass

Many priests observe the anniversary of their ordination at this time of year. It is a common time for ordinations, probably because Ember Days were common times for ordinations and Ember Days fall during the Pentecost Octave.

In any event, today is my turn.  Today is my anniversary of ordination, 35 years ago, by St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica.  That might make me a 2nd class relic.

When this date rolls around, I usually say to myself:

“Well… I made it this far.”

And so begins the 35th year.

On 26 May 1991, the Feast of St. Philip Neri, it was also Trinity Sunday.

It is a wonderful synchronicity that The Parish™ in Rome to which I am so attached, is both the place of St. Philip Neri’s great work and also in honor of the Most Holy Trinity.

It was a perfect Roman May day.

I got up that morning, ate breakfast, said my prayers, and walked alone across town to the basilica, where I entered through the main doors with the rest of the crowd. After that, however, I went to the right, to the nave near the Pietà, where we ordinands vested and waited for the Holy Father. My family members came separately from a different part of town. They had special tickets which brought them very close to the altar.  St. Theresa of Calcutta was there, just in front of where my folks sat.

Since we were 60 in number, and from many countries, the basilica was absolutely jammed with people from all over the world who had come for the ordinations, probably some 50k.

You have not experienced the Litany of Saints until you have heard it sung by that many people in a space like that.

I arranged for my grandmother, a convert to Catholicism in her 80’s, to receive Communion from the Holy Father, St. John Paul.

I often wonder what happened to the other men with whom I was ordained. I only knew a few of them personally, since I had been at the Lateran University with them.

It was the first year that the Iron Curtain was raised a bit.  A few men were permitted out Romania to come to Rome to be ordained by the Pope. There were some Opus Dei guys ordained with us.  Another of the group was John Corapi of the SOLT group, though I didn’t know him at the time. Pray for him.  One priest was ordained for the Archdiocese of Southwark in England. I know that one fellow is now a bishop in Haiti.

This day, especially when I review some of these videos and think about what has happened between then and now, underscores the fact that God doesn’t choose men who are worthy. He chooses those whom it pleases Him to choose.

I ask for your prayers today and in an ongoing way for my cares, my health, and my future.  Pray for canceled priests.

And please, in a special way, pray for the late mother of a priest, my own.

The sermon from the Mass. The sermon is in Italian and the text is HERE.

I really miss him.

Here are some excerpts from the broadcast of the ordination, which was on national television in Italy.  We have the interrogation, litany and the prayer (form).

Imposition of hands.

Liturgically busy day, just as it was in life.  I’m getting behind.  By the end of the day, I’m…. ugh.

The Roman sun rose at 5:39.

The Roman sun set at 20: 36.

In the Curia the Ave Maria Bell is in the 21:00 cycle.  However rang on my phone app while we were having supper last night.    Such a great app.

Along with being the 145th day of the civil calendar, it was the Feast of Mary Mother of the Church, of St. Gregory VII, Venerable Bede and Maria Maddalena de Pazzi.

Jammed.

I read the new encyclical.  It is not without problems.   There are some inconsistencies in it, demonstrating that it was a committee work (they all are now) but also that the editor wasn’t very good.  I was disappointed at the overriding anthropocentric turn and the seeming watering down about abortion as being “gravely wrong” rather than “intrinsically evil”.   I don’t see how the Church’s “just war” doctrine can be thinned out into “outdated”, given the fact that states have a right to defend its citizenry at several levels and that force must be used to end obvious evil.  I’m reminded of Francis once saying that there should never be bombing and then soon after saying that the allies should have bombed to train tracks to the concentrations camps.   As a Latininst, I note that who ever worked on this does understand the impact of “novae” in “res novae” as seriously negative in connotation (not neutrall) and that the name of the document Quadragesismo anno is throughout called Quadragesima anno.  Really?   It is fun to see Tolkien quoted, but one wonders if the author of that section realizes that Gandalf is a fictional character.   I also wonder if the contributor to the theme of Nehemiah knew that the workers rebuilding the walls were also armed.  Also, how did Nehemiah, who essentially engaged in ethnic cleansing and the disfigurement of those who married outsiders as a paragon of synodality?   I could go on.

However, there were some interesting passages and some fair warnings about unbridled use of AI by those who are not responsible to anyone else.   And yet, the encyclical, if I got this right, suggests strong oversite by the state.  Oh?  China?

Enough of that.  Many people will look at this in the next few days.  Will it succeed in the view of authentic experts in the Church’s social teaching as being integrated into that body?   It is economically a little thin, for example.   I really didn’t like the suggestions about redistribution.  Who is supposed to do that?

Friends, including The Great Roman™ and The Great Roman Wife™ with Midwest Travelers™ and I sought to fend off death by starvation.

Great salad.

That’s grated bottarga.

Goodies.

Really good steak tartare.

Black mates in 4.