Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Daily Rome Shot 1251 – Peace be with you (6)

Posted on 21 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Welcome Registrant:

Ave Maris Stella

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Remember! There’s only one unique expression of the Roman Rite. Right?

“Tavern Mass” in the Czech Republic, celebrated on Jan. 29, 2025, while everyone was drinking beer and eating pretzels, and broadcast live on national TV (the local bishops’ conference condemned it afterwards).#NovusOrdo

Tip: @messainlatino pic.twitter.com/08Sze2l3Qg

— Rorate Caeli (@RorateCaeli) February 21, 2025

But… but… but… if he was pressured into resigning, wouldn’t that make his resignation invalid? That’s what canon law says. Does the law apply to the lawgiver?

Open letter calls on @realDonaldTrump to investigate Obama’s possible role in the 2013 conclave.

Did the Deep State force Pope Benedict’s resignation? ?https://t.co/LwRCTcLXCT

— LifeSite Catholic (@LSNCatholic) February 21, 2025

For a bird’s eye view…

Earlier today, the U.S. Space Force quietly released the first ever in-orbit photo from Boeing’s X-37, a highly secretive reusable robotic spacecraft fielded by the DOD.

The image, taken on the X-37B’s seventh mission, high over the African continent, shows the blue marble. pic.twitter.com/lHIiZIFmh3

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 21, 2025

And there’s this…

Pizzaballa on clergy sex abuse:

“In the Middle East…we do not really have this specific issue of child abuse in our churches. In such cases, the penal law allows for the death penalty, whereas the tribal law can be even harsher.”

The more I learn about him, the more I like. https://t.co/SM9VQLMnm3 pic.twitter.com/q8DtqTOGQL

— Robert Kearney (@Robkearney1981) February 20, 2025

In chessy news… HERE“>

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
9 Comments

News of the Church 11 – 20 February 2025

Posted on 20 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The inaugural edition of this series is HERE, in which I explain a lot more.

Some time ago, I saw a movie called News of the World in which after the Civil War a former confederate officer earns a meager living by wandering about reading to crowds articles from newspapers he has gathered. People pay a dime a head to listen, which figures to about $2.50. In those days news was scare and many couldn’t read at all, so there was great interest and emotion over the news of the world he brought. The idea of this travelling gazetteer caught my imagination and here I am. The word Gazette came into English through French but it’s origin is Italian, gazzetta, which is the name of the Venetian coin which paid for the first first Venetian newspapers in the 16th century.

Here is a gazette of “News of the Church”.

00:12 – Init
00:59 – Chronicle of Le Barroux
06:24 – Chronicle of Gower Abbey
11:30 – Chronicle of Silverstream
17:45 – SSPX church consecrated
22:23 – Exit

UPDATE:

I think I need a new microphone

Posted in News of the Church, PODCAzT, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged News of the Church, podcast, PODCAzT
7 Comments

Select Daily Rome Shot 1250 – Peace be with you (5) and The Pant’s Gambit – updated

Posted on 20 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

In occasione di questo Giubileo l’Arciconfraternita della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti, fondata a Roma da San Filippo Neri nel 1548, farà rivivere una delle sue più antiche tradizioni, la cerimonia della lavanda dei piedi. pic.twitter.com/OwElWTb1Xj

— SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini (@fssp_roma) February 20, 2025

The traditional Benedictine monks of Norcia make excellent beer, three kinds!

A truly embarrassing analysis by Faggioli even by his low standards. I have no strong feelings one way or the other for JD Vance. My concern here is the smearing of ressourcement Thomism, a theological movement of immense depth that Faggioli clearly does not understand in the… https://t.co/0xv07SPSf5

— Larry Chapp (@LarryChappGS22) February 19, 2025

When our prelates had spines…

The story goes that the Rockefellers purposely positioned the statue of Atlas opposite Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, symbolizing secular man’s burden without divine assistance. In response, the Archbishop, likely Cardinal Hayes, erected a statue of the Infant Jesus of… pic.twitter.com/H2MnLImRmm

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) February 20, 2025

And…

Seventy Christians were found beheaded in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They were reportedly hostages of the Islamist group ADF— an ISIS affiliate

Why isn’t the MSM covering this story?? pic.twitter.com/57P6fDc2fF

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 20, 2025

80 years ago today the United States Marines storm the island of Iwo Jima. 6,800 Americans will be KIA along with 18,000 Japanese soldiers. pic.twitter.com/zetXjLmWtc

— Military Support (@MilitaryCooI) February 20, 2025

In chessy news… HERE

Black to move and mate in 4.

A little tricky.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
5 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1249 – Peace be with you (4)

Posted on 19 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

click

Welcome new registrants (who are also chess players, judging by their brief registration bio):

Omeiza
SMPMesq
Surfer23

I am a chess.com affiliate, so if you sign up for a chess.com membership, I’ll get some credit. HERE

I think we, as our ancient forebears, desire for the Lord to return ASAP. However, there are days when I would settle for an asteroid. And speaking of asteroids: “Odds of Asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth go up again” HERE

They aren’t endlessly looping “Swan Lake” on Vatican Radio yet.

JUST IN: The Vatican spokesman said the Pope had a restful night and ate breakfast. This as Italian broadcaster RAI is prepared for an “extraordinary event”. This feels like John Paul’s last days: vague reports accompanied by feverish preparations…. pic.twitter.com/iwlTnxriUu

— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) February 19, 2025

Yeah… this’ll be a great show.

One more reason why you lost. https://t.co/Hg6eRlm1Pt

— Vicki McKenna (@VickiMcKenna) February 18, 2025

Some things never change.

“ OHHH! PACK IT IN BACK THERE OR I SWEAR, I’LL TURN THIS THING AROUND AND WE’LL GO STRAIGHT BACK HOME! ” – 1350’s, Pontifical de Guillaume, Paris. Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Ms. 143, f. 174r pic.twitter.com/cs6yooaxx4

— Medieval Military Medicine (@MedMilMedicine) February 18, 2025

In chessy news… the play in continues. HERE

The esports thing is heating up as teams are forming.

White to mate in 5.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
6 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1248 – Peace be with you (3)

Posted on 18 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Let’s stick with one church for a bit.

MONDAY EVENING UPDATE: @HolySeePress has said #PopeFrancis “continues to be apyretic [no fever] & is continuing the prescribed treatment. His clinical condition is stable…He wishes especially to thank those who are currently hospitalized, for the affection & love they express.” https://t.co/WhsBOGux5Z

— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) February 17, 2025

From my dear friend His Hermeneuticalness, Fr. Tim Finigan:

The writing of Sigrid Undset in this life of St Catherine of Siena is engaging and “tight”. Her judgement in matters of extraordinary events and miracles is balanced without being unnecessarily skeptical. I found this book a delight.https://t.co/XRFiu8FuSN pic.twitter.com/c0lTjSEb2v

— Fr Timothy Finigan (@FatherTF) February 17, 2025

Priests rarely speak to their superiors with manly honesty, and some bishops penalize honesty more than ecclesiastical misdemeanors and crimes. https://t.co/w7XHAow5eM

— Father V (@father_rmv) February 17, 2025

In chessy news… HERE

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
11 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1247 – Sorry

Posted on 17 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Another view.

I got really busy from very early today. Sorry.

Here’s the daily blah blah, which I hope you will, please, take to heart and remember.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

In chessy news… The 2025 Champions Chess Tour started today with the Chessable Masters, featuring a faster 10+0 time control. This is the play-in stage.

In OTB today, I won one and lost won against one of the strongest in the club, a 2000. I know exactly where I screwed up in the loss, too. I anticipated his move properly and then doubted myself in what I thought (knew) was the most prudent defense again a knight hop into my side of the board. I had him before that. One move. Just one move….

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Septuagesima (N.O. 6th Ordinary) 2025

Posted on 16 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the Vetus Ordo, it’s Septuagesima Sunday. In the Novus Ordo, it is the 6th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordered) Time. Green vestments for the Novus Ordo, and violet for the Vetus Ordo.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Share the good stuff. Quite a few people are forced to sit through really bad preaching. Even though you can usually find – if you are willing to try – at least one good point in a really bad sermon, that can be a trial. So… SHARE THE GOOD STUFF which you were fortunate enough to receive!

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news? We really need good news.

I have some thoughts posted at One Peter Five.

[…]

They are your prayers too, raised in your stead by the priest at the altar of Sacrifice. You raise them by your baptismal share in Christ’s priesthood through your attentive listening which is far from passive when you are truly engaged with them and the sound of the voice of the alter Christus, praying in persona Christi capitis. In the priest’s vocal praying and by your full, conscious and actual active participation in his praying, Christ the Head and Christ the Body come together into, as St. Augustine of Hippo might put it, Christus Totus, Christ Whole Entire.

[…]

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Sunday sermons
6 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1246 – Why Pre-Lent was dropped

Posted on 16 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Welcome new registrants:

Nela1758
aortwein
BirdsofaFeather
Nana Anna B

First, a tweet from yesterday but pertinent for today, the beginning of Pre-Lent, Septuagesima.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Pre-Lent, the season the post-Vatican II liturgical reformers abolished partly because they thought we were all too stupid to understand it.
“How do you pronounce the names of its Sundays?” ? (https://t.co/RxcVFZZSHz) pic.twitter.com/8FP1LiHcIL

— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) February 15, 2025

The monks of Norcia burying the Alleluia before Septuagesima.

A wonderful old custom that has made a bit of a comeback. pic.twitter.com/h61fCFGDie

— Andrew In The Hills (@TLMFarming) February 15, 2025

“We have received very positive feedback from the cardinals [about The College of Cardinals Report]. Our correspondence with them has been very cordial and constructive.” @dianemontagna in our interview with @StefanoCh82 of @lanuovaBQ & @DailyCompassBQ https://t.co/T3ikYNgphG

— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) February 15, 2025

Wow! Priestly vocations are on the rise in dioceses led by orthodox bishops.

The Columbus diocese has 40 seminarians now in formation to the Catholic priesthood despite having a Catholic population of just around 250,000. Vocations in the diocese have been booming since the… pic.twitter.com/t92MK3rDNa

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) February 15, 2025

In chessy news… HERE

Cool puzzle! White to move and mate in 2. Name the situation.

The monks of Norcia make GREAT beer! Have some with savory cheeses and sausage. They have three kinds and you can have it. Get some, help the monks. They are building.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
14 Comments

ASK FATHER: How can Septuagesima and Sexagesima be “70th” and “60”? It doesn’t add up.

Posted on 15 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I don’t get it. “Septuagesima” means “seventieth” and “sexagesima” means “sixtieth”, which are ten apart. But the Sundays are seven days apart. 10 isn’t 7. Is there an explanation?

Here is something I’ve penned before.

Roman numbering can be a little fluid.

The number 70 is more symbolic than arithmetical.

The Sundays which follow Septuagesima (“seventieth”) are Sexagesima (“sixtieth”) and Quinquagesima (“fiftieth”) before Ash Wednesday brings in Lent, called in Latin Quadragesima, “fortieth”.

These “Gesima” Sundays before the “fortieth” discipline begins, are rough estimates but within certain parameters.

Septuagesima is the 63rd day before Easter and, therefore, it in the 7th (septimus) decade or 10-day period before Easter (61st to 70th days).
Sexagesima Sunday is the 56th before Easter, in the 6th (sextus) decade (51st to 60th).
Quinquagesima is the 49th day, 5th (quintus) decade (41st to 50th) days before Easter.

So the Sundays are named after the 10 day block of days rather than the precise day.

And that, dear readers, accounts for the names of the Gesima Sundays.

BONUS ANSWER

QUAERITUR:

What’s with the three figures in the image at the top?

The Church’s Liturgy is more than that of the Mass. It is also the Divine Office.

In the first week of pre-Lent we have in Matins readings about the Creation, in particular the Creation of Man and Man’s Fall in the Original Sin of our First Parents, Adam and Eve. In the second week we hear of Noah. In the third, Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac.

In each case, Adam, Noah, Abraham all receive in new levels of covenant with God. The are also harbingers of good things that come from God. Adam was the progenitor of sin, but because of that sin we had the “happy fault… felix culpa” that we sing of in the Exsultet. Christ came in the way that He came because of that sin. Noah became the second father of mankind. Abraham together with Isaac foreshadow Christ’s redemptive Sacrifice. Abraham as priest offers Isaac the victim who carries the wood up the hill. Christ is both priest and victim in His own Person.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
2 Comments

Brick By Brick! Altar rail restored at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy

Posted on 15 February 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A good bit of news HERE.

WATCH the blessing of the new altar rail during Mass on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. ET.

The Communion rail was restored to the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA. It is staffed by the Marian Fathers (Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary). They were founded in 1670 by St. Stanislaus Papczynski.

What it was like in the 1950s’

Notice how similar the rail and the altar are in that photo.

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, sent me some photos. For larger, right click and open in a new tab.

The new rail has visual elements of the main altar.

The original rail was removed in 1970. I like that the MIC’s post about this says:

However, no Church document ever called for the removal of the altar rail!

Now they have to get rid of that awful Cramner altar that disturbs the harmony of the sanctuary.

Their post also says:

The altar rail is an extension of the altar and sometimes called “The People’s Altar.” This is why some altar rails are made of the same material and design as the altar. This connection is also seen with the linen communion cloth on top of the altar rail which was required to be used until 1962.

On behalf of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception in the USA, thank you very much to all the benefactors who made this beautiful altar rail possible during this Jubilee Year of Hope. May the Lord bless this altar rail to help foster a greater sense of the sacred and deeper appreciation of the Eucharist to all those who come here to receive His Divine Mercy, Who is so good to us, that He continues to pour out on us and the whole world His Blood and Water almost 2,000 years later through the Eucharist.

Congratulations to the Marian Fathers and to all the people who will visit that Shrine, regularly and occasionally.

I encourage you to read their post which is informative and take a look at their excellent site.

I also warmly endorse Fr. Calloway’s book on St. Joseph.

Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Fr. Donald Calloway

US HERE – UK HERE

St. Joseph is a mighty intercessor. I’ve been blessed several times by his help in times of real need and stress. I have zero doubt that he was the one who intervened, so concretely that it’s amusing.