ROME 23/10 – Day -00: 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Posted on 1 October 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’m NOT in Rome, although I should be.   My flight was cancelled after midnight, stranding hundreds in the airport, scrambling to rebook, searching someplace to stay, a ride.  It was horrible.

So…

Here’s a pic from last year…

This image of Mary is in my neighborhood where I ought to be walking today.   It is good to have Mary before our eyes today because, historically the 1st Sunday of October was dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, following up on the earlier Feast of Our Lady of Victory instituted by Pius V for the perpetual memory of the Battle of Lepanto.   Since then the calendar has shifted around a bit.   Fr. Hunwicke – pray for him and for his better health! – has a grand post about this.  HERE

Meanwhile, I am angrily disappointed.   And not just at the airline for what they did to us last night.   Alas, I had the misfortune to read an advance copy of the new, soon-to-be-released Laudato si 2.o entitled Laude Deum.    Frankly, I don’t know why I am disappointed.  As that beatitude that didn’t make it into Matthew’s list says, “Beati qui non expectant quia non disappointabuntur.”    

The document is…  well, it sums up with an attack on Americans and praise of China in regard to “emissions” that are – and apparently there is no longer any discussion or doubt to be permitted – killing the planet.  And it’s almost too late!

Brace yourselves.   All this and “Walking together about walking togetherity”.

Can you imagine how unctuous the daily communiques will be from the papalotrous left?

Let’s stay frosty.

Here’s a puzzle.  White to move.  Mate in 2.

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

I know I keep posting this, but I really have to. Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

UPDATE

I understand that there was drama at the Catholic Identity Conference. Archbp Viganò was scheduled to speak via video but they cancelled his talk because – as it appears on his website – he was going to state that Francis is not the pope. I read it. Whew.

Pray for the Church my dear friends. Take on some penance.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
9 Comments

Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 18th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 26th) 2023

Posted on 1 October 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Share the good stuff.

It’s the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the Vetus Ordo and the 26th Sunday of the Novus Ordo.

Elsewhere I guess its the 5th Sunday in the Season of Creation?  HERE  Did you get any of that in your parish today?

More importantly, was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

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

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

I have some thoughts about the Sunday Epistle reading posted at One Peter Five.

A taste:

Today Paul reminds us, through his ancient audience, in God’s lavish goodness and how many benefits they, we, have received from Him. We can legitimately say that Paul is addressing us, many centuries removed. In the Letter’s “superscription” (vv. 1:1-3), after greeting one particular figure, Sosthenes, Paul wrote: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
10 Comments

UPDATED: My View For Awhile: Rome-ward – CANCELLED and REBOOKED

Posted on 1 October 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
  • I’m at JFK waiting for the redeye to Rome.


The food in the club was remarkably good. Too bad they are gutting the FF program.


Prayers downloaded. Gotta catch up.


The lines for the flight to Sao Paolo were stretched both ways along the walls. Crazy number of people.

….

….

Grrrr.

…

I’ve got horrible bars on the plane so I don’t know what will upload.

….

Pazienza. May as well get used to it right away.

…

How about now?

Sometimes rebooting gets you a fresh set of bars.

I should quit while I’m ahead.

Prayers for me, please.

UPDATE:

WELL… Something weird happened.

NO CAPTAIN.

So they are unloading everyone off the plane to wait in the concourse … in case he shows.   Then – IF!! – we will have to do this goat rodeo again.  How late will we be?

Who knows.

Lots of angry people here right now.

I think I can guess what you are thinking.

UPDATE:

It’s Sunday and I am still in Queen, NY.

After midnight they CANCELLED our flight. NO CAPTAIN.

They said that we could go to a customer service desk for rebooking, which caused an angry and worried stampede.

I had anticipated that we would be cancelled, so I had been trying to call the service line to rebook. About a zillion times: CALL FAILED. I didn’t get through and get stuck waiting. CALL FAILED.  This screen shot from about an hour after our scheduled departure.

So… I got on the app. There I found numerous rebooking options, mostly for multiple stops, loss of class (in more ways than one) and even bumped more days. I kept refreshing and found one NON-STOP flight for today, Sunday, which I pounced on. It was then that, of course, calls didn’t fail. Hence, I confirmed by phone what I did on the app.   He told me that I got the last seat on the flight.  I’m hoping to be upgraded.  HA!

They have our luggage which – God willing – will be loaded onto the proper plane when the time comes this evening.

I lost a Sunday in Rome, which makes me quite sad.

My heart goes out to all those people who were stuck there. I heard a lot of people saying: “Where are we supposed to go?” Imagine… stuck at JFK after midnight. I was fortunate enough to be able to make a call to a friend close the the airport. The incoming traffic was, however, a total nightmare and it was pandemonium outside. It took an hour for my friend to get there. So… I am so grateful that I had someplace to go and a friendly way to get there.

I get to do this again later today.

 

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
11 Comments

ASK FATHER: Is the dome of St. Peter’s in Rome turning black?

Posted on 30 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE: I received a note from a friend in DC.

St Peter’s dome reminds me of what’s happening in DC. There is a form of black mold we are spending millions mitigating on a regular basis.

I received a question from a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Hello Father Z, I wondered if you could confirm first hand — and perhaps post about it — if this is actually happening and if it’s ever happened before? It’s rather ominous. I’ve never seen it in the hundreds and hundreds of pictures available of Saint Peter’s Basilica except for this recent one.

https://stlouiscatholic.wordpress.com/2023/09/22/ca-reepy/

Firstly, although I arrive in Rome (as I write) tomorrow, I was there during last April and May.  I can attest that, at the time, and even the October ’22, that the cupola of San Pietro was getting markedly darker.  I spoke about this with The Great Roman™ who concurred.

However, last spring it seemed to me that more than one dome in Rome was getting darker.   It seems not to be restricted to St. Peter’s.

This leads me to wonder if there is perhaps something in the rain that is different, or something in the air.  St. Peter’ dome had a fairly recent restoration.  If it was treated with something, perhaps it is changing color with exposure.   Perhaps the stone or treatment is oxidizing.

I don’t want – in the first place – to run to the “It’s a sign of bad things that are being done!” camp.  That said, even if it is being caused by something explicable in natural terms, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t also “A sign of bad things that are being done!”

After all, it was under that dome that a ritual bowl of a demonic cult was place on the altar, above the bones of the Apostle.  That can’t be good.     In the garden behind the Basilica there was a rite honoring a demon.  The demonic statuette was hauled into the Basilica and then also into the Synod (“walking together”) Hall pretty much drawing an X on the spot.

Furthermore, and this veers into the subjective, in the rare times that I have forced myself to go to St. Peter’s over the last couple of years (e.g., to take care of something at the “Vatican Bank” where I have accounts or go to the Mass for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage) I have felt so creepy that didn’t even want to pass beyond the colonnade.   As a matter of fact, on my bank run, I didn’t.  I stood outside the square and looked in without entering and even then I felt like I had been spiritually slimed and that I needed a shower.  It was rather like there was an invisible fog to push into in order to be in the square.  I am not the only one I know who has had this same sensation near San Pietro.

And I remind the readers that the obelisk in the center of the square was exorcised and placed there not just as a decoration but also as a kind of “ward” against demonic influence.

If there is some place in Rome that the Enemy would attack and try to occupy, it would be San Pietro and environs.

Hence, during my Roman days, I tend to stay on my side of the river, in my happy zone, where I know all the cobblestones and they know me.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged
6 Comments

Telling

Posted on 30 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sapienti pauca.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, What are they REALLY saying? |
4 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 809

Posted on 30 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

As of tomorrow, I’ll be walking past this every day.

Welcome new registrant:

1tinylilly

Also, if RLR is out there, I’d like to be able to send a thank you note, but I have no email address for you.  FYI

Use FATHERZ10 at checkout

Meanwhile, in a stunning turn of events, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Magnus Carlsen in not one, but two matches, to win the 2023 AI Cup and qualify for the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto.

White to move.  Find the mate.

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

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

Need to move? Sell your house? Buy a house?

Meanwhile, years ago in Rome I picked up a wonderful book called Le Livre d’Or du Savoir-Vivre. It’s an illustrated manual, a French DIY guide for manners. I’ve written about it before, I think.  It includes the continental, French manners for the table, including place settings, what to do with all the silverware, etc., how to make conversation, how to comport yourself well in social situations.

The book isn’t just about doing the right thing, but living well.

Because it was very dated, it was both a hoot and also a somewhat melancholy read. We’ve lost so much decorum. Decorum is important. Loss of decorum – what is aptum et pulchrum – is highly corrosive, if the absence of something can be corrosive. It can be because nature abhors a vacuum, so to speak. Lack of decorum eventually results in the bad manners that result in self-centeredness that results in contempt of others which violates human dignity.

The self-absorbed contempt that the lack of decorum and formality eventually breeds results in idiot women on airplanes who shed their shoes and then put their bare feet upon the back of the seat in front of them.  Yes, this and other disgusting horrors do happen, as any wizened traveler will attest.  I’m sure you have your own examples.   And to think that once people dressed in the Sunday best to fly… and to go to church, come to think of it.  Now you have idiot women in flip flops and whatever the hell the rest of the “clothing” is.  Men too, but it is worse in women, I think.  It… just is.

Anyway, I was sent this sadly funny image by my father:

I might quibble with some things.  For example, putting a salad fork to the left of the dinner fork.  I like salad after the main course and you should set things up in the order, out to in, that they will be presented.  But… here you see a salad plate on top.  Salad first.  American, I suppose.  Okay.  They have to eat, too.  But…  O tempora.

Bottom line: Formality is a good thing.

Speaking of formality, I saw – to my horror – this:

I’m reminded of the arms of the +F.Atticus together with the arms of the Diocese of Libville.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
5 Comments

A Roman Mystery: The Lost Tomb of St. Jerome

Posted on 30 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here’s an oldie post for this Feast of St. Jerome.

If there have to be reality TV shows or treasure hunt movies, I propose finding the tomb of St. Jerome (+420) in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.

I may write a novel!  It would have vampires, I think, and maybe the Mossad.

I have posted something in the past about Jerome’s burial place.  Here it is again.

This is an interesting story and I dug into it a little. This is what I found.

We read in J.N.D. Kelly’s work Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (Duckworth, 1975, p. 333 – emphasis mine US HERE) :

Apocryphal lives extolling [Jerome’s] sanctity, even his miracles,

were quick to appear, and in the eighth century he was to be acclaimed, along with Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory the Great, as one of the four Doctors of the Church.[2] In the middle ages his works were eagerly copied, read, and pillaged; while towards the end of the thirteenth century the clergy of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, were to persuade the

CLICK TO BUY

public, perhaps themselves too, that his remains had been transported from Bethlehem to Italy, and could be venerated close to certain presumed fragments of the Saviour’s crib.[3]

Note 2: This was formally ratified by Pope Boniface VIII on 20 Sept. 1295: see Corpus iuris canonici II, 1059 (ed. E. Freidburg, Leipzig, 1879-81). The original number four (the list was later to be greatly expanded) was chosen so that the Doctors could match the Evangelists.

Note 3: The story of their alleged translation, in response to a visionary appearance of Jerome himself, is set out by J. Stilting in Acta Sanctorum XLVI, Sept. VIII, 636 (Antwerp, 1762); it is reprinted in PL 22, 237-40. Stilting also provides a discussion of its date, veracity, etc. on pp. 635-49.

In the Acta Sanctorum for 30 September, under the entry for St. Jerome, …

…we find the following section with its articles:

LXV. Corpus Sancti ex Palestina Romam translatum, depositumque in basilica s. Mariae Majoris. The body of the saint was brought to Rome from Palestine, and put in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
LXVI. Inquiritur tempus quo Sancti corpus Romam delatum. An investigation is made into the time when the body of the saint was brought back to Rome.
LXVII. Corpus Sancti depositum prope aediculam Praesepis, conditum deinde ibidem altare, sub quo positum, ubi mansit usque ad pontificatum Sixti V, quando dicitur clanculum ablatum & absconditum. The body of the saint was placed near to the small chamber of the Crib, established then right at the same altar, under which it was placed, where it remained until the pontificate of Sixtus V, when it is said to have been secretly taken away and hidden.
LXVIII. Corpus Sancti clanculum ablatum & absconditum dicitur, ne transferretur alio a Sixto V: deinde frequenter frustra quaesitum. The body of the saint is said to have been secretly taken away and hidden lest it were to be transferred to another place by Sixtus V: aftward it is frequently sought in vain.
LXIX. An reliquae, sub altari principe S. Mariae Majoris inventae, videantur illae ipsae, quae ut corpus S. Hieronymi ad illam basilicam fuerunt translatae. Whether the relics found under the main altar of St. Mary Major which had been transferred to that Basilica seem to be the very same as the body of St. Jerome.
LXX. Admodum verisimile & probabile inventas esse S. Hieronymi. Clearly the [relics] found are most like and probably of Saint Jerome.
LXXI. Respondetur ad objectionem ex reliquiis Nepesinis: reliquiae, quae verisimiliter sunt S. Hieronymi sub mensa principis altaris depositae. An objection is answered about the relics at Nepi: relics placed under the main altar which more than likely are those of St. Jerome.
LXXII. Reliquiae Sancti in pluribus civitatibus Italiae, Galliae, Germaniae, Belgii, & aliis provinciis. The relics of the saint in more cities in Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and other provinces.
LXXIII. Cultus S. Hieronymi: festivitates eius & Officia. The veneration of St. Jerome: his feasts and offices.

Here is the page where these articles begin. If you want to have a fuller experience of the joys (the chore) of reading the Acta Sanctorum for any length of time click here for a larger image.

Meanwhile, the canons of St. Mary Major hold that the bones of Jerome are inside the main altar under the baldachin.  Also, the altar is upheld by four lion’s paws.  Coincidence?

Others say his body is in the Sistine Chapel of St. Mary Major, to the right as you face the main altar, where the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and where the tombs of Popes Sixtus V and St. Pius V are found.

Jean-Léon Gérôme_Sint-Hiëronymus (1874)

Posted in Classic Posts, Linking Back, Patristiblogging | Tagged
3 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 808

Posted on 29 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Eduard Habsburg

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE  These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.

Meanwhile, Black to move.

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

Today Magnus and MVL will duke it out for the #1 spot in the AI Cup.

Also, I will be a chaplain for a very special 11-Day Traditional Catholic Pilgrimage to Poland & Prague (27 August – 6 September 6, 2024).  The dates have been selected to avoid the summer heat and crowds.

The registration link has gone LIVE and can be found HERE.

There is limited seating. Register early.

FYI: there will be a pilgrimage information webinar in the form of a 45 minute Zoom meeting on Monday, 13 November at 8 pm ET.  The link for the webinar can be found HERE and the passcode is: 656210. The webinar will be hosted by the pilgrimage company to explain the tour and itinerary, with general info on what to expect. There will be ample opportunity for Q&A.

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

VIDEO about making a good confession with some additional notes

Posted on 29 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I stumbled across a video which presents a sermon on how to behave before during and after making a sacramental confession. There is some good advice in the sermon, particularly about the need to examine one’s conscience and the confess all mortal sins in both kind and number with just the important details or circumstances that can affect the gravity of a sin. For example, there is a difference between “I pushed my brother” and “I pushed my brother off a cliff.” Also, there is a very good point about avoid vague language like, “I have been as prayerful as I should have been.” “As I should have been” tells the confessor, and yourself, nothing.

The preacher also points out that a good confession is going to be BRIEF. If a person is prepared, and just “says it”, the confession will be concise.

I would make a few additions.

In the beginning, the preacher stresses contrition for validity. However, attrition can be sufficient for a valid absolution. Of course contrition is one of those words that can be polyvalent. Also, true contrition is far better and should always be our goal. This is going to be the result of a thorough examination of conscience.

I would add as well: Don’t look at or stare at or converse with people waiting in line. Leave them alone.

There is good advice in this video.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

See also my own TIPS FOR MAKING A GOOD CONFESSION (available also now in SPANISH) HERE.

A note to priests who could but don’t schedule generous confession times in the parishes and teach well about the importance of this sacrament.

You are probably going to wind up in Hell.

Finally…

GO TO CONFESSION.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes | Tagged , ,
6 Comments

Bishop Schneider’s Prayer for the Synod on Synodality

Posted on 29 September 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE: Joseph Card. Zen is also circulating this prayer on Twitter/X!  HERE

I recommend praying this at least once a day, every day, until the Synod (“walking together”) is concluded.

Dated on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel (… defend us in battle!), 29 September 2023:

Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and Saviour, You are the Head of the Church, Your spotless Bride and Mystical Body. Look mercifully upon the profound distress to which Our Holy Mother Church has been subjected. Doctrinal confusion, moral abomination, and liturgical abuse have, in our day, reached an unprecedented height. “The heathens have come into your inheritance, having defiled your holy temple, and laid Jerusalem in ruins” (Ps 79:1). Churchmen who have lost the true Faith and become promoters of a worldly globalist agenda, are intent on changing Your truths and Commandments, the Divine Constitution of the Church, and the Apostolic tradition.

O Lord, with humble spirit and contrite heart we beseech You, prevent the enemies of the Church from exulting in a victory over the authentic Catholic Church obtained by imposing a counterfeit church under the guise of “synodality.” Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come to the aid of Your Church with Your almighty strength. For where sin and apostasy in the Church abounds, the victory of Your grace will abound the more.

We firmly believe that the gates of Hell will not prevail against Your Church. In this hour, in which our beloved and holy Mother Church is suffering her Golgotha, we promise to remain with her. Graciously accept our interior and exterior sufferings, which we humbly offer in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, as a reparation for our own sins and for the sins of sacrilege and apostasy within the Church.

O Lord, send forth your Holy Angels under the command of Saint Michael the Archangel, to bring your heavenly light to the Pope and synod participants, and to frustrate the plans of your enemies within the synod assembly. O Lord, look mercifully upon the little ones in the Church, look upon the hidden souls who sacrifice themselves for the Church, look upon all the tears, sighs and supplications of the true children of the Church, and through the merits of the Immaculate Heart of Your Most Holy Mother, arise, O Lord, and by Your intervention grant Your Church holy shepherds who, imitating Your example, will give their lives for You and Your sheep. O Lord, we beseech You: Through the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant us a holy Pope, zealous in promoting and defending the Catholic Faith, we implore You, grant it! Through the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant us holy and intrepid bishops, we implore You, grant it! Through the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant us holy priests, who are men of God, we implore You, grant it! In You, O Lord, we rest our hope: let us never be put to shame. To You, O Lord Jesus Christ, be given all honour and glory in Your Holy Church. You live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit: God, forever and ever. Amen.

September 29, 2023
+ Athanasius Schneider

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Urgent Prayer Requests |
1 Comment