This is where I venture into informed speculation. Firstly, Thomas was not with the other Apostles on that first Easter Sunday when Christ breathed on them. However, the breathing was essential and tied to the Holy Spirit. Next, consider the meanings of “hand” in Greek, including the wrist. Also, Christ said “thrust” (rather like a spear). Moreover, the wound from the lance remained in Christ and therefore remained all the way into His Heart.
We have come to Low Sunday, Dominica in albis, the Octave of Easter. I reviewed something of what Fathers of the Church had to say about our Gospel passage on this famous Sunday: John 20:19-31.
Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604) preached on this very passage in the Basilica of St. John Lateran on the 1st Sunday after Easter. In other words, liturgically, today.
Here is the very end of his sermon, which sheds a needed light on the theme of “divine mercy”.
Thus Gregory the Great:
Consider again, beloved brethren, this important truth, and carefully endeavour to be preserved from the eternal perdition.
These Easter-days are celebrated with great pomp and magnificence; yet our duty is to make ourselves worthy of arriving at the eternal Festivals.
You endeavour to be present at these feastdays, which pass and disappear; try, then, your utmost to be one day present, all together, at the never-ending celebration in heaven. What would it profit you to assist at our festivals now, were you never to be admitted to the festivities of the angels in heaven?
Our present feast-days are only the shadow of those we are expecting, and, though year after year we are celebrating them, we are longing for those never-ending days in the kingdom of God. Renew in your hearts the desire of the eternal festivities by the celebration of the annual earthly festivals.
Let the happiness granted to us in the present time penetrate us in such a way that we continue sighing for the eternal happiness prepared for us in heaven, and ardently desired by us on earth. Prepare yourselves for that eternal rest by amending your lives and practising virtue and holiness. Never forget that He Who in His Resurrection was meekness itself, will be terrible when coming to judge the world.
On this awful day He will appear surrounded by Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Principalities and Powers.
On that day heaven and earth and all the elements, being the ministers of His wrath, will be in a general conflagration.
May this terrible Judge be ever present to the eyes of your mind, that, penetrated by a salutary fear of His severe judgment, that is to be held, you may confidently expect His corning.
Let us fear now, that we may be without fear then, and this fear will help us to avoid sin and work out our salvation. For I tell you that the more we are now afraid to rouse the anger of our Judge against us, the greater will be our confidence when we appear before Him at the end of the world.
Let us strive in our liturgical celebrations both to anticipate the beauty of the heavenly liturgy before the throne of God, and also to encounter within those sacred mysteries the mystery which is the remedy for our fear of death.
Isn’t this in part the problem in the tension between the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo? The Novus Ordo tends to stress eschatological joy. There is nothing wrong with that. However, the Vetus Ordo also stresses eschatological joy, but it also tells you how to obtain it. That means all of those references to sin, guilt, penance, propitiation that were stripped out of the Novus Ordo prayers. There is no tension between the Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo regarding a strong, hopeful view of participation in the joy of Heaven. They both do.
If our liturgical worship does not prepare us truly for the moment in which we come to the Judge, then our liturgical worship has not provided what we truly need. How Mass is celebrated is important. But it isn’t only the outward signs and gestures, style of celebration, language, posture, vestments, art, architecture. Those are important. So are the texts themselves. They are, in the long run, critically important.
It is Saturday in albis. It is amazing how the Church wove the texts and readings of Holy Mass together over the Octave.
Today, in the ancient Church, would have been the last day for the newly baptized infantesto be wearing their white baptismal garb. Tomorrow the white would be put off, albis depositis, according to their new status in the Church.
That’s today and tomorrow, about which I will have more to say alibi.
However, yesterday, at my regular veggie stand, I spotted fine puntarelle, which I relish. And to make them, you have to make your relish, the dressing, in the Roman way.
First, garlic. Mince and give it a dash of salt. Then with the flat of your knife press and smash, back and forth. The salt helps to grind down the garlic.
This releases more of the garlicky essence for more immediate and cold distribution.
Into a bowl with anchovies and white wine vinegar and oil. You want to make an emulsion.
Not having a little whizzer machine handy, I resorted to the back of a spoon to mash it all up. Eventually it smoothed out, sort of.
Mix through your beautiful fresh crunchy puntarelle!
Here’s a little chapel in a nearby church where St. Philip Neri started his Oratory, the Spada family footed the bill for this. Whew. You can’t get tired of this. Yes, that’s stone.
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.Who wants to do some Latin for fun? Animi caussa?
And if you are really ambitious. I enjoy reading these old stones and thinking about the people who, in their great love, did so much, left so much for posterity.
Meanwhile, white to move and mate in 3. An easy one today. That black queen suggests how you must proceed. Go ahead, if you haven’t been trying these. It’s not that difficult.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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In chessy news, the Candidates Tournament has begun in Toronto! Eight players are duking it out. I am a a little less than happy that the Candidate is in Toronto when I am in Central European Time. I can only watch coverage of the openings and then get some rack time. In the mornings I avoid anything that can spoil my review of the day and find a video that gives a recap of the previous day’s action. This morning was delighted that a few games had winners, that they weren’t all draws. I was especially glad that two-time Candidates winner Nepo defeated Alireza Firouzja, who deserves all the losses he can give up.
I don’t have the energy to follow the women’s side of the Candidates, but Tan Zhongyi has two wins so far. Back to the “open” side (basically the men), with black Vidit Gujrathi pretty much blew 2nd seed Hikaru Nakamura off the board. It’s the first classical game loss for Nakamura since the 2022 Madrid Candidates.
Meanwhile, in honor of the Candidates tournament, I tried these animi caussa. They would be nice with coffee…. ehem. Buy some coffee… help the Carmelites build.
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.
It felt like a chickeny day, so I made chicken last night. A view of the butcher case. The inclusion of a head lets you know what sort of chicken it is. What kind of chicken is it, you ask? Dead, so far as I can tell. Other than that, not a clue. They do this in France, too, to guarantee that that Bresse chicken is the real deal and not some counterfeit interloping poseur.
I, however, opted for one of these small spatchcocked birds that had some seasoning already.
A view of the day’s last light on the dome of Sant’Andrea della Valle on my way home. All the domes in Rome are turning dark.
Let’s do some prep. First, some color/flavor for the veg with the bird.
The same for the onion.
Meanwhile, which drink is mine?
After browning the bird a bit, reassemble. I’ve added rosemary and a couple of cloves of garlic, smashed. A slosh of wine, Trebbiano, and into the oven.
The just out of the oven.
Supper was half of this. Now I have great leftovers either for another, similar plate or perhaps for soup. Decisions decisions.
Dessert: taleggio.
Meanwhile, white to move and mate in 4. Can you name any of the techniques used to obtain this victory?
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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In chessy news, the Candidates Tournament has begun in Toronto! Eight players are duking it out. Yesterday saw quite a few draws, all of the men and all but one for the women’s side. You all know my position, of course. Ceterum censeo Firouzja delendum esse.
Give support to the good Benedictines in Norcia. I found out that they operate on the solar calendar and clock for their days. See my post the other day about the solar clocks in Rome.
UPDATE: Finally, extreme thanks to DM for a lovely donation for my time in Rome. I bought flowers for the apartment today without the slightest twinge of concern.
Here are the new resident blooms.
The alstroemeria haven’t fully opened yet. They should be good for more than a week if tended well.
Michael Mazza is both a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer (a successful one, too).
The article highlights both the level of frustration (and even desperation) that exists among priests and lay faithful regarding accusations and the way they are handled AND how pursuing a path of civil litigation has its own hazards. This is an important and timely topic, so please feel free to circulate.
Dear Father Z,
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul for your constant exhortations to “Go To Confession.” It has taken me quite a while (years) to step up to the confessional but with the help of the Holy Spirit and your prayers, I finally did the deed on Holy Saturday. It has been an unbelievable and (hopefully, with prayers) life-changing blessing. Please keep up your so-very-necessary apostolate. You are in my special prayers, as is the priest who heard my confession.
With thanksgiving for Christ’s mercy and forgiveness,
Please, merciful God, let this reckoned against my Judgment, which could be at anytime according to Thy will.
If this blog has accomplished nothing else, I thank Christ the High Priest, Mary the Refuge of Sinners, and Joseph, Patron of the Church for the chance to bring people back to the confessional.
This beautiful sunny yet cool Roman day started by the sun’s rising at 06:45 and it will end at 19:42.
The Ave Maria (which you know all about now) is at 20:00
It is the feast of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor as well as that of St. Francisco Marto (+1919) the apparition seer of Fatima.
I will say Holy Mass today for my Roman Sojourn donors.
Also, thank you to ML for shifting from “Continue” to Zelle. And a huge thanks to
I had a note from a priest friend who has people help to keep stats on certain feasts. He wrote that they heard 2100+ confessions during Passiontide, 727 confessions in 10 hrs on Good Friday, and 1,400+ on the Easter vigil.
Fathers! If you have a parish, and you are not preaching about morals, sin and the Sacrament of Penance, if you are not scheduling reasonable, accessible, adequate hours for confessions – which will increase when people know and trust that you will be hearing – then you are probably going to go to Hell.
That said, here’s a lovely little vehicle, a Fiat 500L, probably late 60’s with a roaring 18HP!
On the way home from shopping, down the wonderful V. dei Cappellari.
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.
Meanwhile, black to move and mate in 3.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
CLICK!
I am now a chess.com affiliate. So, click and join! Maybe we can build a fun and active Catholic Chess Club within Chess.com.
In chessy news, TODAY beginneth the Candidates Tournament in Toronto! This is an eight-player double round-robin clash. Eight grandmasters (including one whom I hope loses in with significant defeats) will compete to play against present World Champ Ding Liren, who defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi when Magnus wouldn’t defend his title. This should be good watchin’!
My prediction: Fabiano Caruana will prevail. It’s either he or Hikaru Nakamura. Nepo is not to be ruled out as a spoiler, but the way Fabiano has been playing, and Hikaru… whew.
We are now in the Easter Octave – Happy Easter! Let’s get out in front of this before the calendar clicks over to Friday.
First, allow me to post a shot of last night’s (Wednesday’s) repast.
The beef is so good here in Rome, where I write, at least from the butcher I use at the Campo de’ Fiori. It tastes like I remember beef used to taste. And probably a little cheaper than in my usual US grocery. I managed a pretty much perfect cottura this time, with an excellent Maillard reaction and rare center. The veg are mushrooms and cicoria in padella with garlic and hot pepper.
I could eat this again tonight, Thursday. I could eat this again on Friday. On this Friday, that is.
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
My wife and I recently returned to the traditional Friday abstinence from meat year round.
Traditionally, would the Friday abstinence from meat also apply during Fridays of the whole Easter season?
What about just the octave?
Congratulations for wanting to adhere to the traditional practices. Kudos.
You’ve asked a good question.
Here is canon 1251:
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
24. The first eight days of Easter Time constitute the Octave of Easter and are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord.
The days of the Octave of Easter are celebrated as Solemnities (in the Novus Ordo calendar). Therefore, there is no obligation for Catholics for the Friday abstinence on this coming Friday.
Note well that the other Fridays of Eastertide are not Solemnities. The relief from abstinence applies only to the Friday in the Octave of Easter.
BTW… this does not apply to the Octave of Christmas, for those days of that Octave are not counted as “Solemnities” as are those of the Easter Octave.
This is how the 1983 Code of Canon Law handles Friday in the Octave of Easter, and this applies also to those who prefer the Extraordinary Form (which did not have “Solemnities”).
As far as other Fridays are concerned, outside the Octave of Easter or some other Solemnity, you can ask your parish priest to dispense you or commute your act of penance.
Can. 1245 Without prejudice to the right of diocesan bishops mentioned in can. 87, for a just cause and according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop, a pastor [parish priest] can grant in individual cases a dispensation from the obligation of observing a feast day or a day of penance or can grant a commutation of the obligation into other pious works. A superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life, if they are clerical and of pontifical right, can also do this in regard to his own subjects and others living in the house day and night.
Abstinence from meat has good reasoning behind it. For some, however, abstinence from other things can be of great spiritual effect.
Certainly you would never abstain from reading this blog… or from ordering…
I often forget to pray before using the internet. I sometimes fail in charity when using the internet.
This tool of social communication and research and entertainment has amazing upsides, but it also has spiritually deadly perils. We all should be very careful in how we use it – and through it – use each other, “use” in the finer sense of “treat” each other.
Today is the feast of St. Isidore of Seville, Bishop and Doctor (+4 April 636).
He is not to be confused with St. Isidore the Farmer.
St. Isidore defended the faith against the Arian heresy, which was still around.
It is amazing how tenacious heresy can be. It still is around.
Some years ago – quiet a few years, now that I think about it, in the late 90’s when Compuserve was still the thing – there was chat about having St. Isidore proposed as the patron saint of the internet. He has NOT, however, officially been named such. Keep that in mind.
I was asked to write a prayer people could recite before using the internet. I wrote the prayer in Latin and submitted it, with a translation into English, to a bishop who gave it his approval.
This prayer is now all over the same internet, both with and without attribution.
You will want to know why some people proposed St. Isidore for this role.
St. Isidore’s most notable work, the Etymologiae, us a massive encyclopedic work of 448 chapters in 20 volumes indexing just about everything people thought it was important to know at the time, rather like a primitive database. I think that’s the connection.
You can, of course, pray to any saint in this matter, and nothing official about any patron for the internet has been handed down from the Congregation Dicastery for the Causes of Saints (which is the competent dicastery of the Holy See in those matters).
Bottom line: people wanted a prayer for St. Isidore, and I wrote one. You should feel free to change the name to whatever saint you prefer. Others have proposed St. Maximilian Kolbe (+1941), St. Bernadine of Siena (+1444), St. Rita of Cascia (+1457), and the Archangel Gabriel (still around).
I am happy for people to use this prayer. I ask that you give attribution if you repost.
To see all the versions of the prayer which are now available, go
If you can offer a new translation with the title (and audio recording by a native speaker) into a language missing from those I’ve archived, please send it. To email me, click HERE.
I would also like a video of the prayer in ASL, American Sign Language.
Meanwhile, here is the English.
A prayer before logging onto the internet:
Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thine image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Finally, I’m still waiting for an improved version in Klingon.
Today, 3 April, Easter Wednesday, at 6:47 the sun rose over the Eternal City. The sunlight day will begin to end at 19:40.
I got a little screwed up with my days in posting, so this is a sort of leap-date.
The Ave Maria Bell … or as one reader wrote to ask:
“What the heck is the ‘Ave Maria Bell’ and why do you post about it if nobody does it?”
The Ave Maria Bell is a relic of time calculation from when accurate clocks were not simply everywhere. Also, the clocks were different than now. The Ave Maria sounded a single bell struck 3 times, then 4 times, 5 times, and then 1 time.
The “Ave Maria” indicates the change of the religious day from day to night. It was a way of calculating the day using a 6-hour clock that the Church developed in the 13th c.. the 6-hour dominated until Napoleon imposed the 12-hour clock (which predominates today). If, when walking about in Rome and if you are in the know, you will spot old 6-hour day clocks. For example, at the interesting church in Trastevere, Santa Maria del Orto, the “university church”, there is a 6-hour clock in the façade.
This is an interesting church. It was for the “universities” or professional associations especially having to do with food because of its location near the bank of the Tiber where there were wharves. There were 13 Università, including the Fruttaroli (like the vegetable vendors in Campo de’ Fiori), the Pollaroli (chicken guys) and the Vermicellari (pasta makers). Santa Maria del Orto is also now the church for the Japanese in Rome.
A quick digression. The other day I noticed that scaffolding has been taken down in the Via Pollarola where there is an exceptionally mediocre restaurant of the same name and, across the way, a very good place which is one of my favorites these days, Elle Effe. Anyway, in Chicken Vendor Street, there is an inscription which was hard to see until again recently.
There is still a butcher shop nearby that primarily advertises chicken, though they have everything. Last year I got a great rabbit there for supper with The Great Roman™. But I digress.
The Collegio Romano has a six-hour clock, too. The most visible is in the bell tower of the Quirinal Palace. They are all over Rome, but you have to pay attention and sometimes they are in inner courtyards or in sacristies.
The Ave Maria is rung in the ballpark of half an hour after sunset. If the Ave Maria is rung at 20:00, as it is from 2-15 April (in truth it’s 19:00, but “ora legale… daylight savings”) and therefore is today, then 19:00 (really 18:00) is 23rd hour of the religious day and 21:00 (really 20:00) is the 1st hour of the next day. This older calculation of the day’s hours meant that, as the year progressed the length of “an hour” changed.
In Italian there are a couple of phrases that still ring with ancient usage of the Ave Maria. For example, “portare il cappello sulle ventritre… wear your hat at the 23rd (hour)” means to bring the brim of your cap down to shield your eyes from the light of the low sun. The day divided in 4 blocks of 6 shifting-length hours is represented in a phrase, “la merenda a vent’un ore… a snack at 21 hours”. In the summer working day are very long. There would be for laborers a mid-afternoon snack, at “21 hours” which would be roughly between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. This would carry you through to the end of the work day. In fact, it was the custom when I was on a work schedule in Rome to have a snack at about 4-4:30 PM, maybe after a post-lunch nap, before heading back to work in the Curia office until 7-7:30 PM (and the non-ringing Ave Maria Bell).
In the Roman Curia, Cardinals and other officials would still receive people in audience for the hour after the Ave Maria Bell rang. An hour after the Ave Maria, a single bell would toll, thus ending all business for the day, since it was the first hour of “night”. When there were large religious communities in Roman churches and chapters of canons, Vespers would be sung an hour before the Ave Maria Bell. Obviously daylight savings screws this up.
Finally, another relic of the six-hour clock is the recitation of the Angelus, now Regina Caeli, at 0600, 1200, and 1800. Get it?
Thus, the Roman Ave Maria Bell. More than you ever wanted to know.
Why do I post about it? I want it back. Also, I admire that the Roman Curia calendar (of which I post pics when in Rome, still provides this precious item of information connecting us to our forebears.
It wasn’t all that long ago that time was calculated quite a different way, more connected to the rhythm of the seasons, the coming and going of the sun, the time for work in the open and the time for rest, the time for prayer to punctuate the whole rounding of the hours. Even as I typed those words the bell in the campanile across from my window chimed the 3/4 hour with three double chimes on two differently pitched bells and then the hour with another. In my lodging back over the pond, I have a clock that chimes the naval bells, in their cycle of 4 rings of pairs of chimes. My phone is set to play Evening Colors at sunset, as well as the Angelus/Regina caeli as recorded at The Parish™.
Tempus fugit, friends. Memento mori.
GO TO CONFESSION.
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HEY!
ni**********@fuse.net – My thank you note was kicked back. This email doesn’t exist anymore. Can I have an update?
Speaking of the hour of the sunrise this morning… here we go!
Out in the early hours. I couldn’t resist. I posted a still of this same guy a couple days back.
There will be pontifical baptism at The Parish™ and confirmation in the evening. Item’s are being prepared.
A visit to the Sacred Heart this morning to ask healing for an ear issue.
One of the fruttaroli stands (and now you know a little more about them helps with preparation of Roman-style artichokes. Tomorrow I may get some and try my hand, if they also have mentuccia. Otherwise, I might have to wait until I see The Great Roman™ to get some.
On my way home from the stands, butcher, and bakery.
As I write, it is time for la merenda a vent’uno.
Speaking of coffee…
Black to move and mate in 3.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
CLICK!
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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
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.”
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- 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.
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Hello sun at 06:42 and g’bye at 19:44.
This beautiful sunny yet cool Roman day started by the sun’s rising at 06:45 and it will end at 19:42.
Today, 3 April, Easter Wednesday, at 6:47 the sun rose over the Eternal City. The sunlight day will begin to end at 19:40.
