Fr. Z's Blog

You might remember that I started a Black Vestment Project for my adoptive parish in Rome, Ss. Trinità dei Pelegrini.  Seven matching black Roman sets (one with my stemma).  Some of you readers almost instantly contributed.  Thank you.

Today I received photos of the cutting of the fabric.

I am told that they will be ready by mid-October, which means that they will be ready when I am back in Rome, which means that they will be ready for All Souls and November.

Brick by brick.

Also, I am able to take a few more Mass intentions.  HERE

Welcome new registrant:

cl

Yesterday in Paris in the Speed Chess Championship Magnus methodically eviscerated “Puer” (aka Alireza) 23½-7½, which gave me deep satisfaction.

The Olympics are coming up.

White to move and mate in 4.

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

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.

Photo from The World’s Best Sacristan™

In chessy news, in the Paris Spped Chess Championship semifinals , the match we’ve been waiting for.  Not Hikaru v. Puer (Puer won). But Magnus Carlsen v. Hans Niemann.  HERE Apart from the bad blood, tension and Niemann’s bluster and trash talk, Magnus cleaned the floor with him.  And it probably would have been even worse if Magnus hadn’t lost some interest in pounding Niemann into the floor. Niemann several times made extended whiny technical protests which dragged the match waaaaaay longer than it should have been… in front of a live audience too, thus annoying their entire world.  That’s what Hans is champ of: being annoying.   There is an extended interview of Hans Niemann by Levy Rozmen (aka Gotham Chess – super popular chess content creator on YouTube – 5.35 MILLION subscribers!)  Here’s the link to the interview – HERE.  It is not dull.  It gives a real insight into Niemann.  Next, Niemann v. Hikaru for 3rd.  HERE There’s even worse rapport between them.  Hans has really attacked Hikaru.  Hikaru slaughtered Hans.  Sunday is Puer (aka Alireza) v. Magnus for the enchilada.

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.

White to move.  Find the zwischenzug (intermezzo):

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

Photo from The World’s Best Sacristan™

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.

Many thanks to those of you who have already contributed, ahead of my fundraiser, for my Roman Sojourn.

VF, JL, MR, DVDH, DC, LG, MMcM, MH, SB, PG, HL, MM, SAS, JL, EW, AN, WW, GG, MP

Welcome new registrant:

hubertmarshall

In chessy news, as I write the Speed Chess Championship semifinals are underway in Paris, Hikaru v. “Puer” and then the long-awaited Magnus v. Niemann. The players are present to each other but playing on computers with screens between them. I think this fosters really fast play in time crunches. There is a live audience.   I tuned in for a moment, but I’ll save the video for supper-time viewing before another episode of Endeavour.

White to move and mate in 4.

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

I received a note from the monks of Norcia which showed a liturgy with their new Abbot.  What grabbed my attention were the vestments.  The last pontifical set I had made for the TMSM was precisely of this fabric.  I have a chasuble of my own.

I’m set up for a Requiem later, but here is a quick view.

The monks of Norcia make GREAT beer.  Try some!  Perhaps your priests would like some.

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.

The monks of Le Barroux in France are making good wine.  Their rose was recently recognized and awarded.   The only roses I ever pay any attention to are from S. France, Provence.

Nice people! Great service!

In chessy news, for the 45th Chess Olympiad there are 197 teams registered!  FIDE has 201 national federations.  USA! USA! USA!

The Speed Chess Championship is coming up tomorrow in Paris.  There we shall see a match up between Carlsen and Niemann.

BLACK to move and mate in 4.

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

PLEASE use the sharing buttons! Thanks!

In your charity would you please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.

You have to be registered here to be able to post.

In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave and incurable.   Please pray for me.  Lot’s of decisions coming.

Some time ago, I asked for your prayers for a friend in Rome who is suffering from a terrible and life-threatening malady of the liver, which if I am not mistaken is a genetic problem. I had asked that you pray to Bl. Luigi Monti for a miraculous healing which would be complete, sudden and durative. I received this note today, which he sent to all the members of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity.

Dear brothers and sisters, as many of you already know, I am still hospitalized after two months, and have been put on the list for a double transplant. Given my situation which is not improving, I have been put on the emergency list since last Thursday, which means that compatible organs could be found faster. Not rejecting nor distrusting these ordinary means which could be the will of the Lord, I still continue in the hope of having the grace of a complete, immediate, and permanent miraculous cure. I thank those of you who have already invoked the intercession of Blessed Luigi Monti and Pius IX; divine providence has decided not to grant these prayers, but in any case I am not wary. I was brought a novena prayer and a relic of Blessed Gerardo Sasso, founder of the Knights of Malta. I would like to beg our Lord and Our Lady again for the grace of a miracle, this time through the intercession of Blessed Gerard. I thank those of you who would like to join this novena, which I will begin tomorrow 24 June, the feast of Saint John the Baptist, main patron of the order of Malta as well as my name day, and end on 2 July, the feast of the Visitation of the Madonna. I hope that she and her Son will visit me at the end of this novena together with Blessed Gerard, to bring me the grace I ask for. I thank those who read this message.

He sent images of this holy card. The translation is below.

PRAYER FOR THE INTERCESSION OF BLESSED GERARD

O God, who chose Blessed Gerard to care for the sick and pilgrims in the Holy Land and wanted him as Founder of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and chose him as an example of Christian charity towards the poor and the suffering; grant kindly that, following his example, I may see Christ your Son in the sick and the poor.
Holy Father, I beg you, if this is according to your will, that Blessed Gerard be numbered among your Saints, and that with his intercession grant me the grace that I ask of you.

3 Glory be to the Father.

There are major differences in the rite of the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) between the Vetus Ordo and the post-Conciliar Novus Ordo except in the essential form of the sacrament, the necessary words to impart the form of absolution.  Those remain the same.

However, we are not minimalists who don’t care about all of the rest of the stuff so long as the sacrament is valid.  That’s the attitude that libs have who screw around with prayers of Mass, even the Eucharistic Prayer, sometimes the very “institution narrative” at the time of the consecration.  “After all, as long as it’s valid, hey! I know how to improve it and make it more meaningful!” (Read: “I’m a clericalist jackass and I have contempt for you.”)

I have posted on this before, but not for a long time.   It is good to review.

In the Novus Ordo side of things, recently a new and more accurate translation of the form of absolution was implemented.  This is what Latin Church priests are to say.

NEW VERSION:

God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and poured out [Latin: effudit] the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God grant [Latin: tribuat] you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

The prayer before the changes:

God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

Nota bene!

If a priest still says, “poured out” and “grant” now, it is valid.

If, later, a priest still says, “sent” and “give” it will be valid.

I’ll now ask the big question.

When was the last time you heard these words, in English, Latin or any other language?

GO TO CONFESSION!

Now for something about the VETUS Ordo.

We hear at Mass in the prayers at the foot of the altar after the Confiteor (and also after the 2nd Confiteor) an absolution which forgives venial sins.  At the beginning of the Sacrament of Penance, the priest says something similar before going into the form of absolution.   The part I am talking about concerns the three words following the Confiteor of Mass and which initiate the rite of the sacrament in the confessional:

“Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen.”

The translation in our Baltimore Catechism is: “May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of (all) our sins. Amen.”  A hand missal might say something similar.

What’s going on with this?

Pardon, absolution, and remission seem to be synonyms.  The whole verse seems simply to mean: “May the Lord forgive us our sins”.  Who needs vain repetitions, right?   Shouldn’t we have noble simplicity? VATICAN II!!! Right?

The three English words are synonyms, but the three Latin words are not. Making them all mean the same thing is not correct.  Any of the three English words can translate absolutionem, but they are not correct translations of the first and the last word, indulgentiam and remissionem.

The former, indulgentia, means God’s mercy, His loving kindness, His tender pity for us. It is implied in the title with which we address Him in the verse “Misericors Dominus” and after the very beginning of the Sacrament of Penance when the “door slides open”, namely, “Misereatur tui…”.   Remissio indicates not freedom from guilt, but freedom from punishment.  It is a technical term equivalent to the now more commonly used term —indulgence.

The above-mentioned words in the classical form of absolution are a vestige of the penitential code used in the early and mediaeval Church. This code distinguished three stages in the work of reconciling the sinner with God through the Church.

The first was sacramental absolution (in foro interno), which meant the forgiveness of sin. This is called simply indulgentia. The term can still be recognized in the form of Extreme Unction: “indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid per auditum . . . deliquisti.”

The second step was canonical absolution (from the prescribed outward penitential works). This is called absolutio.

The third was reconciliation, a solemn reinstating of the penitent by the communicatio pacis. This is called remissio.  To remit in English is “to put back into a previous position or condition” or else “to refrain from inflicting or enforcing, as a punishment, sentence” and even “to pardon or forgive”.

A free translation would read something like this:

May Almighty and Merciful God blot out the guilt of our sin, remit the punishment due to it, and restore us to His friendship.

After this comes the part, “ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis“…. This time it’s absolution for something specified clearly, “sins”.

This seems rather nitpicky, but it reveals the way the Roman mind works.   This isn’t the only time we have repetitions.  For example, in the Roman Canon there is: “hóstiam + puram, hóstiam + sanctam, hóstiam + immaculátam“.

Just a few thoughts.

The Catholic Unscripted team is finally back at it. They had a bit of a hiatus, as one does in the summer. Their latest video is worth taking in. They are concerned about the increasing leftist control being exercised by the state. Gavin Ashenden has an interesting suggestion about how to resist state tyranny.   It begins with Chesterton.

Catholic Unscripted is a good thing.

Something Roman Catholic…

This is a new book from Joseph Card. Zen Ze-kiun about how to

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

US HERE UK HERE

Gerhard Cardinal Müller says of it:

“This book by Cardinal Joseph Zen is a book needed in our time of great confusion in the Church. In his text, Cardinal Zen reminds everyone what the Church really is and what the Church always should be, a Church that Christ has given us for the salvation of humanity—not a sort of NGO. The words of the former bishop of Hong Kong are a wake-up call for all those who have forgotten what the Church is about and what should be her nature and structure. The pages on the Synod on Synodality also cause us to think about what is at stake in our day, and they should be considered with our utmost attention.”

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, white to move and mate in ONE. How long did it take?

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

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this 15th Sunday after Pentecost, or the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time?

Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A couple thoughts about the sign of the cross: HERE  A taste…

If you are perhaps enveloped in mourning or concern, struck with anxiety and fear about your lot or that of a loved one, remember the resolute tenderness of the Lord for the widow of Nain.  If you are lonely or can’t see a way forward, know that Jesus has the same compassion for you as for her.  He will extend it to you in the way He knows you most have need of it.  If you are carrying the death-bier of the memory of your sins, perhaps still unconfessed, Christ will raise you from your cast-down state.

[…]

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.

September is the month dedicated especially to the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

HEY! a*****f9**@charter.net  My note to you was kicked back.  New email?

HEY! s*****41@nc.rr.com  You too!

In chessy news, at OTB yesterday I had two good wins. It’s amazing what enough sleep can do for your game. However, it was on 1 Sept 1972 that Bobby Fischer won the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik when Boris Spassky resigned the 21st game.

Meanwhile, in space…

Starliner crew reports hearing strange “sonar like noises” emanating from their craft. This is the real audio of it: pic.twitter.com/xzHTMvB7uq

— SpaceBasedFox ???????????.??? (@SpaceBasedFox) September 1, 2024

White to move and mate in 4.

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

UPDATE: I took possession of my new washer and drier yesterday. They are installed and working. An amusing twist to this. A few days back, when I started posting about this, I made an oblique reference to a line from the dead parrot skit of Mont Python. Some of you instantly picked up on it and there ensued comments about the “Norwegian Blue”. Ironically, my new machines are… blue. They, too, do not talk.

Some of you offered to help with the washer/drier replacement and some did help. Thanks to MF, ES, MR, JP, DC, GD

And another thing... this is too cool not to post.  I do a chickadee pretty well, but this is amazing.

Samual an autistic child that can replicate bird calls, this is his school performance

? diabetic4one
pic.twitter.com/C8paSwfDfV

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 1, 2024

If there is no delivery of the washer/drier today in the afternoon, it’ll have to wait until Tuesday.  I don’t want it on a Sunday.    The saga continues.

Yesterday I posted the post-mortem on a less than pleasing cheese and pickle sandwich.

That brings me to today’s Rome shot:

The product, set to go sale in UK supermarkets in September with a £2 price tag, contains “pasta in a creamy sauce with pancetta” and “no artificial colours”.

[…]

Italians on social media reacted with fury and disbelief to the news on Thursday, with many asking if it was a joke.

Other comments included “I wouldn’t even give it to stray cats” or “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”.

[…]

In 2020 Romans reeled in horror at celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s “nightmare carbonara” while in 2021 The New York Times caused upset in Italy with its Smoky Tomato Carbonara.

[…]

Italy’s tourism minister has chimed in:

“Italian cuisine is a serious thing”, Santanchè wrote in a post on X, before paraphrasing the actor Alberto Sordi in the 1954 classic film Un americano a Roma to say that canned carbonara should be fed to rats.

I wonder if this isn’t a ploy of Bill Gates to push people willingly to eat crickets.

My suffering continues.  I was trying to ignore this, but several friends insulted my phone by sending links.   I confess: I shared it once.  I won’t do it again…. No… wait.  I guess I’m doing it now!  See what happens when these improprieties are perpetrated?

Mala tempora currunt.  Peiora parantur.

Perhaps I should make my own carbonara tonight in reparation for this vile offense against humanity.  Alas, in a pinch I don’t think I can put my hands on real guanciale today.

HEY a*****.w****@erickson.com!  My email thank you note was kicked back.  New address?

WELCOME REGISTRANTS:

113016
emcarol

Speaking of cheese and pickle sandwiches, and speaking about what I’ve been watching in the evening:

Still in the realm of Morse – and I do need to revive ZedNet – the younger version of the gal who played in The Queen’s Gambit appeared in an Episode of Endeavour which I just saw.

In chessy news, … that’s about all I have.  The Queens Gambit was a series which helped fueled the chess explosion during COVID.  This explosion, like the Big Bang, is still expanding outward with remarkable effect.

Meanwhile, from the other game God prefers….

In 1968, Bob Gibson was never removed for another pitcher. Not once, all year. Including the World Series, he made 37 starts. He completed 31 of them. The other six, he was removed for a pinch-hitter. pic.twitter.com/h4a7tw2EoK

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) August 31, 2024

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

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

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.

There is something about Borromini’s beautiful lantern on Sant’Ivo, which reminds one a bit of a washing machine agitator.   I’ve been reminded rather a lot about agitators these days, and not the sort who protest at speeches of conservatives.  Also, not in the way in way that Saint Mary Maytag does in San Francisco, or the cathedral in Liverpool.  Come to think of it, the latter looks more like the Mercury capsule or the marooned Starliner.

Welcome registrant:

Chili

In chessy news, I read today about the events surrounding the 2024 Chess Olympiad to be held in Budapest.   Why didn’t arrange things differently so that I could take in Budapest before heading to Rome?  The Olympics will be held from 10-23 September.  Also, it is the 100th anniversary of FIDE.  Lot’s of things going on for that.  Richard Rapport will again play for Hungary.  He’s Magyar, but played for Romania for a while.  Peter Leko, a great commentator, returns to the board.  For these USA we have Fabi, Wesley, Leinier, Levon and Ray Robson.  A good line up.  It would have been great to have Hikaru, but all are 2700 and above.  They will give the Indians and Chinese a run.  Now that I’ve read this I have a yen for Paprikas Csirke.  But, of course, it’s Friday.

Black to move and win material.   Careful!

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

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.

I should have solid washer/dryer news tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in honor of starting to watch Endeavour again, for a penitential Friday lunch…

I celebrate as my onomastico or “name day” the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, 29 August.  “He must increase,” said the Baptist, “I must decrease” (John 3:30).  I need that rule of life.

St Augustine of Hippo (d 430) connected John’s sudden, violent “decrease”, his head’s removal from his shoulders, with the autumnal shortening of daylight, while the feast of John’s birth coincided with the vernal lengthening of days.

In the Art Institute of Chicago, there is a tempera on panel depiction of the Beheading of the Baptist by the Sienese painter Giovanni di Paolo (d 1482).

You view the instant after the deed.  Seen from outside the prison, John leans out of his window, guillotine like, his headless shoulders and angled arms still in place as a massive gout of blood jets forth the jutting neck.  A servant with a platter stoops for his head.  The executioner sheathes his man-length blade.

John was not only a martyr for the Truth.

The miraculous son of the elderly priest Zechariah was a priestly martyr.

John stood against Herod and his crony cadre of corrupted priests who backed his violation of the truth of sexuality and marriage.

Herod used his power to sin.  John’s blood exposed also priestly corruption in a way that no one could ignore.

By the way, Herod’s command to kill John, the incorruptible priest, came from his lust for a child.  Salome was a “little girl” (Greek korásion).

That’s the direction, of course, of the radical and aggressive homosexualist agenda. Their ultimate goal is the lowering of the legal age of consent.

The Washing Machine Saga.  Continuation…

I’ve made up my mind on a plan of attack, made possible by a few of you kind readers.  I write your names down on a card and put it near the machines to remind me to say a prayer for you when I use them.  Thank you.

The “head of St. John the Baptist” at S. Silvestro in capite.

Photo by The Great Roman™

Meanwhile, in St. Louis the chessy news is that the Sinquefield Cup has concluded with “Puer” in 1st place.  The final standings of the Grand Chess Tour has Puer in 1st, followed by Fabi, MVL and Wesley.  MVL finally broke his 25-game streak of draws by beating poor Ding Liren.

Absolutely heartbreaking ? moment for all Ding Liren fans. It’s tough to see him lose the final game of the #SinquefieldCup. We hope he regains his spirits before the Chess Olympiad and the World Chess Championship match! #Grandchesstour #Chess #DingLiren #worldchampion #fide… pic.twitter.com/J0j90mLIeR

— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 28, 2024

Chess is hard.

Meanwhile, white can force mate in 4.

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

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.

FYI… I just ordered some salt for my water conditioner using my own link! I do it too.