Daily Rome Shot 1212

Posted on 3 January 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Meanwhile…

And also…

In chessy news… there’s not much going on, so maybe this is relevant for those who want to play chess online… with anyone, anywhere, anytime…. like
Navy Chess”.

White to move and mate in three.  HERE

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK 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.

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Daily Rome Shot 1211

Posted on 2 January 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At The Parish™.

Meanwhile…

In churchy news, there is a piece at Crisis which deals with the aftermath of the recent “Eucharistic Revival” effort in these USA.   HERE  In my opinion, the ball was dropped.

This is where the fumble was scooped up…

In chessy news… HERE

White to move and mate in two. How fast can you do it?

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Daily Rome Shot 1210 – and the winner… are…

Posted on 1 January 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Many thanks to KS for the items from my wishlist.  I don’t have an email for you, alas.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK 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.

HEY!  a******900@charter.net
HEY! s*****41@nc.rr.com

My notes to you were kicked back.   New email?

In churchy news… today a partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite the Veni Creator Spiritus. A plenary indulgence is granted if it is recited on January 1st or on the feast of Pentecost. HERE

Preces supplicationis et gratiarum actionis

§ 1. Plenaria indulgentia conceditur christifideli qui, in ecclesia vel oratorio, devote interfuerit sollemni cantui vel recitationi:
1° hymni Veni, Creator, vel prima anni die ad divinam opem pro totius anni decursu implorandam; vel in sollemnitate Pentecostes;
[…]
§ 2. Partialis indulgentia conceditur christifideli qui,
1° ineunte et declinante die,
2° in incipiendo et explendo proprio officio,
3° ante et post refectionem, aliquam legitime adprobatam supplicationis et gratiarum actionis precem devote effuderit (e.g. Actiones nostras; Adsumus; Agimus Tibi gratias; Benedic, Domine; Domine, Deus omnipotens; Exaudi nos; Te Deum; Veni, Creator; Veni, Sancte Spiritus; Visita, quaesumus, Domine).

In chessy news… HERE

White moves.  Mate in 4.

Also – and this deserves front page – yesterday in NYC at the world Blitz championship Magnus asked FIDE if he and Nepo could share 1st place (championship).  FIDE said yes.  That’s really interesting, considering the previous tension over Magnus wearing jeans (dress code violation) then quitting Rapid, coming back for Blitze (wearing jeans) and the players who are lining up with “Freestyle” (Fischer Random) which FIDE might not be able to control.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Fr. Z’s Predictions for 2025

Posted on 1 January 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

2025 Predictions

1) There will not be a papal conclave.
2) The USCCB will oppose deportations.
3) At least one SCOTUS justice will retire.
4) At least one Cardinal will be a source of major scandal.
5) Vatican finances will deteriorate even more.
6) The summer will bring another social upheaval like 2020.
7) The US border crisis will be mostly resolved.
8) Israel will attack Iranian nuclear sites.
9) The SSPX will consecrate a bishop.
10) Fr. Z will not be made a “Monsignor”.

2024 Predictions

1) Trump will be elected [+1]
2) Hamas will be destroyed in Gaza [+0.5]
3) The Ukrainian war will continue with no results [+1]
4) DDF will continue to confuse Catholic doctrine [+1]
5) The ITC will write about the feminine character of the Church and no one will care [-1]
6) There will not be women deacons [+1]
7) The Eucharistic Renewal in the USA will fizzle [+1]
8) The US border crisis will not be resolved [+1]
9) We still won’t know what is in the China Vatican deal [+1]
10) Fr. Z will not be made a “Monsignor” [+1 – I’m 65!  C’MON!]

Looking back

2023 Predictions
2022 Predictions
2021 Predictions
2020 Predictions
2019 Predictions
2018 Predictions
2017 Predictions
2016 Predictions
2015 Predictions
2014 Predictions
2013 Predictions
2012 Predictions
2011 Predictions
2010 Predictions

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Unboxing the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testaments

Posted on 31 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

One of you dear readers sent me the new Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testaments from my wish list. I am delighted with it. I spent some time last night exploring it.

US HERE – UK HERE

Your priests need this.

A quick view…

It’s big. The binding is excellent. It lies open. This is the soft, leather bound version, not the hard cover.

Some indices.

How I wish that it also covered the Vetus Ordo!  However, we have Matthew Hazell’s book for that.  Indispensable.  See below.

For the readings of the Vetus Ordo…

Index Lectionum: A Comparative Table of Readings for the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite (Lectionary Study Aids) (Volume 1)

US HERE – UK HERE

 

 

Posted in REVIEWS, SESSIUNCULA |
2 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1209 – powerful

Posted on 31 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Welcome registrants:

Ave-Maria
The Alderman

Here is a fascinating piece from the past provide by CERC. HERE This is from Fr. Rutler at the time of the death of SCOTUS Justice William Brennan and his scandalous funeral. It is an amazing read, both for Fr. Rutler’s style as well as what it says about us today, many years later. The first paragraph… it should hook you.

Richard Cardinal Cushing was relatively constrained back then, because liturgical depredations had not yet switched into high gear. It was not thus when President Clinton, who vetoed the ban on partial-birth abortions, was permitted to announce to all corners of the cathedral for consumption in all corners of the world: “Brennan’s America is America at its best.” That is, internecine America is at its best with 39 million fewer children than would have been born were it not for Brennan’s eisegesis of the Constitution. Attorney General Janet Reno later said in a speech to the American Bar Association that the honors paid to Brennan in St. Matthew’s Cathedral inspired her to go on.

[…]

It is an amazing read.

Here is something related to what Rutler wrote (which you should read first so that you know what I mean).

And then there’s this.

 

This interesting video came up in my feed when I was reviewing recaps of games from the FIDE Blitz Open in NYC.

Play video

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK 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…  HERE

For your puzzle, white can mate in 2.  Easy, right?  BUT… name the pattern!

This is a heartbreaker, for sure. In NYC during the big Blitz open, Ukrainian veteran Vasyl Ivanchuck, affectionately known as Chucky, who in his day was a true beast, suffered a loss to a young and popular chess content creator Danial Naroditsky whose empathy at the board is manifest.

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6 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1208 – Black Moon

Posted on 30 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

HEY! au****.w****@erickson.com My thank you note to you was kicked back as undeliverable. New email?

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK 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.

HEY! au****.w****@erickson.com My thank you note to you was kicked back as undeliverable. New email?

In chessy news… HERE

White to move and mate in 2.

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Sunday in the Octave of Christmas (N.O. Holy Family) 2023

Posted on 29 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas and, in the Novus Ordo, Feast of the Holy Family.

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.

[…]

We don’t know why exactly we are called into this point in time and place, but we know that God must have a plan for us.  If we can accept our state and live it well, and accept the mysterious burdens and challenges that come with living, we are confident that we shall look the Messiah in the face, our selves new born into the happiness of heaven, where there is no weeping or weakness or sorrow and all our great questions will be resolved in the midst of our loved ones and the holy saints and myriad hosts of angels before God’s throne.

[…]

 

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St. David: Musical Poet King, Prophet, Progenitor of Christ

Posted on 29 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Holy Church considers many Old Testament figures to be saints.

Today when you open your trusty copy of the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum you will find, just below the St. Thomas Becket, this interesting entry:

2. Commemoratio sancti David, regis et prophetae, qui, filius Iesse Bethlehemitae, gratiam invenit ante Deum et oleo sancto a Samuele propheta unctus est, ut populum Israel regeret; in civitatem Ierusalem Arcam foederis Domini transtulit ac Dominus ipse mox ei iuravit semen eius in aeternum mansurum esse, eo quod ex ipso Iesus Christus secundum carnem nasciturus esset.

You readers can come up with your renderings of the Latin original, either in a smoother version or perhaps in a slavishly literal way.

Changing tracks slightly, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art there  is a series of paintings of Old Testament figures, including King David.  These are elements from an altar piece by Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco (known also as Piero di Giovanni +1422).

Moses is at the top left.  Next to him is Abraham.  Below him on the bottom right is Noah with his ark.

By thy way, since I took that photo, the paintings have been rearranged… in case you go looking.

Here is David, holding a psaltery.  Greek psallo means “to pluck”.   While there are also bowed psaltery, this one is plucked by the fingers rather than bowed or struck with a pick or plectrum.

When you get the audio guide at the Met and listen to experts talk about the works, sometimes you get a sample of period music.  In this case, you get to hear some music played on a psaltery.

You can hear, below, a sample of bowed psaltery together with a small harp, also appropriate to David, as well as plucked psaltery in two versions of a Medieval Lament for Tristan, which would have been in vogue at the time the painter was working on the altar piece.

Listen as you do your translation!

Also, here again is Tristan’s Lament on a psaltery.

Play video

And, just for fun… here is another image of a psaltery bunny from a late 13th c. French manuscript. He even had the audience moved to sorrow.

 

Posted in Classic Posts, Saints: Stories & Symbols, SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1208 – Succisa virescit

Posted on 29 December 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Octave of Christmas, let’s look back to the 1st Mass of Christmas! Right click for larger.

And then there’s this jackass.

One notes with interest that what he attacks is traditional rather than post-Conciliar.   I wonder if he was perhaps a dicasterial consultant for the penning of Taurina cacata.

Happier… succisa virescit!

Unhappier… and not churchy

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK 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.

If you haven’t seen this yet from Gavin Ashendon…

Play video

In chessy news… HERE

White to move and mate in 2. How long did it take?

UPDATE:

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