Fr. Z's Blog

Roma sun-up 0625
Roma sun-down 1955
Ave Maria 2015

You have to enjoy the many images of Our Lady in Rome, every couple of streets, each little neighborhood had theirs.  And you often see votive offerings, silver hearts, have been affixed out of gratitude for a favor granted.

If you don’t ask for favors, you won’t get them.  If you don’t ask for miracles, you won’t get them.

Back in the day, people asked and asked and asked because they believed and believed and believed.

This particular image of Mary doesn’t have a votive offering, but St Pippo, co-patron of Rome is kissing Baby Jesus little toe, which is kinda the same thing donchya think?

I think Baby Jesus and the putti hanging onto the frame have the same barber.

Here’s an action shot from yesterday.  The paschal candle is tall enough that it is hard to light and put out from below.  The enterprising sacristan found a different angle while putting out the “big six”.  Kudos.

Meanwhile… I remind you of Fr. Claude Barthe’s book, now in English, A Forest of Symbols: The Traditional Mass and Its Meaning.  US HERE – UK HERE

Here is another little tease.   Always remember that Mass is not a “didactic moment”.  Even though there are moments that are “didactic”, they are not primarily so.  They are acts of sacrifice, glorification, praise and supplication.  Even the readings are sacrificial.  That is why in the Vetus Ordo the priest must read them even when they are sung by the sacred ministers.  Christ the High Priest, the Word, is raising Himself to the Father in the flowing sounds of human language, Word incarnated raised as a glorification, a petition to be heard, oblation by His Priesthood, a fleeting sacrifice.

With that in mind, here is Fr. Barthe:

First, at the altar, on his knees on the highest step of the altar on which he has placed the Gospel book, he asks God for a purification similar to that undergone by Isaiah in the Temple at his calling (Is 6:6–7): Munda cor meum ac labia mea. . . (Cleanse my heart and my lips, O God almighty, who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias with a live coal: vouchsafe, of thy gracious mercy, so to cleanse me, that I may worthily proclaim thy holy Gospel).  [This is the pattern!   We purify and then we bless.  We exorcise water before we bless it, etc.]
Then, in front of the celebrant, the deacon, holding the Gospel book against his breast, comes to ask the blessing of the celebrant (Pray, sir, a blessing. The Lord be in thy heart, and on thy lips . . . ). After the deacon has been blessed by the celebrant, the celebrant places his right hand on the Gospel book and presents it to the deacon to be kissed as an indication that Christ confers his power and his virtue on his apostles, giving them the gifts of his spirit that flow out from him, especially from his hand, the source of good works. Christ passes on to him in particular the gifts of languages, of speech, and of the voice, with the hand of the celebrant touching the purified mouth of the deacon and the purified mouth of the deacon kissing the consecrated hand of the celebrant. From then on, the Lord’s right hand passes on his Spirit, which alone can give an understanding of the mysteries, uncovering what is hidden within them, can give the grace necessary to talk of them, and can communicate the power to make them heard. This kiss is a kiss of respect, but it is even more designed to plumb the depths of the divine force of Jesus Christ’s holy humanity, and in particular the force of his humano-divine speech.

Meanwhile,…

White to move.

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

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

Game 6 between Ding and Nepo was really something.  Ding played the LONDON and Nepo played … not so well, all in all, and got into trouble.  But at this level you can get out of trouble if given a tiny advantage.  It was not to be for Nepo, however, because Ding Liren played a forcing mating net that was a thing of exquisite beauty.  It was breathtaking.

Here is the video of the coverage which I bookmarked at the point where Ding is closing in for the kill and the commentators are looking to find it before Ding plays it.  Anish had his good plan, but what Ding Liren does is amazing.   Give it a try with a little patience while the pressure builds up to Ding’s initially puzzling but super-crafty move.  As we join, Ding is having a think.   Note also Anish’s insightful comments about how different players calculate.

You would really enjoy this will a glass of beer from Norcia. Believe me. Some savory sausage and a sharp cheese. Great beer made by traditional Benedictines building their new monastery from the beer you then enjoy while reading Fr. Z’s blog and doing chess puzzles? Does it get better than that?

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 Low Sunday, 2nd of Easter?

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

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A couple thoughts about the 1st reading: HERE

Sunrise 0627.  Sunset 1954. Ave Maria 2115.

Benedict Joseph Labre (+1783)
Bernadette Soubirous (+1879)

Today is called…

Low Sunday
Quasimodo Sunday
Thomas Sunday
Divine Mercy Sunday

etc.

Roman Station is at San Pancrazio

Welcome new registrants:

SBreslin
Mrs.

Last night I got some veg going and then put some color on a small spatchcocked chicken.

It was delightful.

Since some of you are begging for more food pics, I was out for lunch with friends today.   There was one person in the restaurant whose presence was so odious that it was all that I could do to stay in my chair.

Anyway, these were stuff with sausage.

Second course, tongue and a green sauce with fruit mustard.

Close to the Vatican and next to the Pachamama church, is the venerated residence of the long-time Papal Executioner, Mastro Titta.

At the Pachamama church, in sight of the doors of San Pietro (whose dome is turning black), there are great piles of junk, seemingly “art”.   It’s junk, really,… but not without a purpose.   Look at this…  tell me what you see.

Remember… this is where they venerated a demonic idol.

I’m tired today.  I’m going to stay in tonight and catch up on the video of Game 6.

Can we have, today, a rest from a puzzle?  It’s work to post them.   I would appreciate a couple things.  Prayers, please.   There is something in Rome that both elevates and represses.  Also, please if you are going to shop online, remember me.  I need that boost.  Thanks in advance.

Oh yes, the odious person in the restaurant was the present day “papal executioner” … of the Traditional Latin Mass.   I was amused to see that the bottle he and his lunch companion has was entitled: Inferno.   So appropriate.

Not making this up.

Even as the sun rose at 0628 and will set at 1953, today the new Ave Maria cycle clicks over to 2015.

It is Saturday, the last day of the Octave of Easter, which ends at Vespers and the Roman Station is St. John Lateran, where last Saturday/Sunday the catechumens were baptized, becoming for this week “geniti infantes”.

This is the day when, at Mass, the Pope would distribute the “Agnus Dei”, a disk of wax mixed with sacred chrism with the impression of the Lamb of God.  (I’ve always wanted one.)   When giving one to a prelate, the Pope would put it into his miter, saying, “Stick that in your hat!”.   Well, maybe not.  I probably would.

Turning for a moment to Bl. Ildefonso, we find this about the last prayer of Mass, the Postcommunion, on this last day of the Octave.

In the Post-Communion the Church shows herself anxious that the new Christians, whilst laying aside their symbolical garments, should carefully guard in their hearts that faith taught them with so much care during the long period of instruction. The holy Eucharist is the sign and sustenance of this faith, the mysterium Fidei, excelling all other, which fed in the breasts of the martyrs that sacred fire that was urging them to endure all things and to confess boldly the Catholic faith.

“Quickened by the gift of our redemption, we beseech thee, 0 Lord, that by the help of these means to eternal salvation, true faith may ever prosper.”

Don’t ever take your Catholic Faith and identity for granted. We can swiftly lose supernatural charity, and more slowly hope. Faith is always the last to fade. But the world, the flesh and the Devil incessantly militate against us from within and without.  We have to guard our precious gifts in ourselves and in those whom we love, fostering them also in those whom we meet.

Make good Holy Communions.  GO TO CONFESSION!

This is Rome today.  Rainy Rome pretty much sucks, so I have no plans to go out except for Mass.

Instead can do some reading and writing and play some chess online.  I also have a couple of books I should work with.  I need to get more into the QGD.  And asl I write, it is pouring rain again.

Yesterday, I made myself a pretty good cheeseburger for supper with taleggio.   No bun, but really good bread did the trick with sharp mustard.   If anyone is puzzled, I eat in, cooking for myself, most of the time in Rome.  It is really expensive to eat out.  This is an advantage to having a kitchen: savings.

Let’s have another selection from the book I mentioned yesterday, Fr. Claude Barthe’s A Forest of Symbols: The Traditional Mass and Its Meaning US HERE – UK HERE

One of the moments at the altar that I find the most significant during the Canon at the “Súpplices te rogámus”. The priest bows low at the altar, kisses it, straightens up and makes the sign of the Cross over the Host, the Chalice and himself. To me, this sequence has always underscored the identity of the priest with the altar and with the Eucharistic species present upon it. The altar itself is a mode of Christ’s presence, as is the priest, who is alter (not altar) Christus. The kissing of the altar and the signs of the Cross show the unity of all these present elements. So, let’s see if Fr. Barthe has a different view:

The Supplices to rogamus (We most humbly beseech thee, almighty God, to command that these things be borne by the hands of thy holy angel to thine altar on high, in the sight of thy divine majesty, that as many of us as, at this altar, shall partake of and receive the most holy Body + and + Blood of thy Son may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace) thus causes this part of the Canon to close (Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen) with the idea of oblation. This is the first ending of the Roman Canon. This prayer is, moreover, the real equivalent of the Eastern epiklesis: “Command that these things be borne by the hands of thy holy angel to thine altar on high: The liturgists speak of a communion epiklesis,” that is an invocation aimed at uniting the earthly altar and the heavenly altar, distinct from the Consecration epiklesis” of the Eastern liturgies, where God is asked to descend on the sacred elements by the power of his Spirit. According to Durandus, the priest in the thirteenth century used to rest his crossed hands on his breast and make a very deep bow.

There have been many discussions of the identity of the “Angel: Durandus wrote, “He is the Angel of Great Counsel, the Counsellor on whose advice the Father created and recreated the world: otherwise known as Christ-Wisdom, the Word incarnate.  But he adds that the altar on high in the presence of God is also the crucified Christ sitting in glory at the right hand of the Father. The Angel brings these “sacraments” to this altar, revealing his wounds, and interceding for us, who bring the sacraments to fulfilment on earth. Olier and Pierre Lebrun take a similar view. It is worth noting that the De Sacramentis refers to angels in the plural (per manus angelorum tuorum) rather than the singular, which would not contradict the idea of a “communion epiklesis,” but would prevent identification of the angels with Christ. St Thomas Aquinas, who thinks that the Angel can be compared to Christ, derives the following mystical etymology: the Mass, missa, takes its name from the fact that, through the Angel, the priest sends (mittit) his prayers to God, or again because Christ is the approved victim sent (missa) to us. All of which underlines that the meaning of the prayer Supplices to rogamus is at the heart of this oblation of the holy victim, which we know as the Canon, and is therefore also at the heart of the whole celebration.

Barthe doesn’t get into what I wrote about.  However, he does dig into the identity of the Angel.  My view is that the Angel in question here is Christ the High Priest Himself, simultaneously, at the earthly altar and upon the earthly altar while being at and on the altar beyond space and time in the heavenly liturgy, perpetually offering the same Sacrifice to the Father, thus enabling us the baptized, through the Sacrament of Orders and Eucharist, to renew it and partake of it here on hundreds of thousands of altars across the globe.

Here are a few more shots of the Vigil of Easter at the wonderful Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini.

I like action shots.  The images are being unveiled.  This is a portrait of St. Philip done, if I am not mistaken, in his lifetime.

After the Epistle.

I was talking with the pastor about anything they might need at Ss. Trinità.  They need a nice white set for Solemn Mass and for when bishops celebrate at the faldstool.  Are we game for a project?  Shall I request estimates?

Our work here is done.

Meanwhile, today the World Championship reengages in Astana, Kazakhstan.  I wonder if Bp. Schneider is following it.  It’s Round 5.  Apart from the prestigious title, FIDE World Champion, there is a €2,000,000 prize fund. Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost to Ding Liren a couple days ago after a massive blunder, plays with white today. The match is tied, 2-2.

Here’s a puzzle.

Black to move.

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

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

Today, sunrise was at 0630 and sunset will be at 1952. The Ave Maria is at 2000.

It is Friday in the Octave of Easter, which according to the Novus Ordo calendar is held as a Solemnity. Hence, there is today no obligation for Friday penance.

The Roman Station is at Santa Maria ad Martyres in the Campo Marzio.  It’s other name is The Pantheon.   There is a great account of when St. Pope Boniface IV exorcized this ancient temple to pagan gods (aka demons) on 13 May 609.

That date, 609, got me thinking.  St. Pope Gregory the Great died in 604.  I looked up Boniface and, sur’nuf, he was one of Gregory’s deacons, mentored by Gregory.  You can imagine the sort of men that Gregory surrounded himself with in those difficult and dangerous times.  Gregory himself was highly educated and devout, with a strong inclination to asceticism.   In his governance he was quite practical, though he had that powerful evangelical spirit that comes from love of the Faith.  After all, when you love something you want to share it with others, right?  Surely this is one of the reasons for immense care he lavished on the sacred worship of the Roman Church, which careful alterations are still with us in the Traditional Latin Mass and, to a lesser extent, in the Novus Ordo.   Gregory chose as his collaborators men like Boniface, who would stand in the doorway of the Pantheon and exorcize raging demons. I wonder what Gregory would think of those in certain key positions today.

On another note, for nibbles last night I had some little peppers stuffed with tuna and some marinated anchovies.

Some chicken was roasted with the remains of my enormous caprese tomato.  Note the the traces of feathers.

Today dawned, dreary and cold.  On the horizon to the south and the Castelli are indications of a later sunny day.  When the forecast intermittent rains settle down, I’ll run errands.  Walking around in Rome in the rain is a miserable exercise.

I found a good video on Youtube, one of the best I’ve seen that explains the lay out of the city and who made it happen.

Speaking of beauty, the Grand Masters who commented on yesterday’s game 4 between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Ding emerged victorious after a terrible blunder by Nepo. After that blunder and during the mopping up, the commentators opined about Nepo’s future performance in light of how he collapsed when facing Magnus last time.

One of the most interesting bit in the coverage of Game 4 was a rather philosophical discussion about chess and beauty. Anish Giri opened the topic and they went back and forth with it in quite a thoughtful way. I’d be very interested in your thoughts about what they came up with. In the video, below, I have set the starting point to just before their conversion, about 3:02:10.

Meanwhile,…  white to move.  Tricky position for white.  Use your first principles.

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

I’m an affiliate now. Great service!

Interested in learning? This guy helped my game.  Try THIS.

Meanwhile… I just received a copy of Fr. Claude Barthe’s book, now in English, A Forest of Symbols: The Traditional Mass and Its Meaning

Fr. Barthe was ordained by Archbp. Lefevbre in 1979 and is incardinated in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon.

This is published by the wonderful Angelico Press.

US HERE – UK HERE

Here is an excerpt.  I really like approaches like this.  Many of the things we do at Mass developed from ancient uses and then took on spiritual meanings, depending on the loving meditation of the commentator.  Some of the spiritualized interpretations differ, and that’s okay.  There is no reason to force any of them.    Here is Fr. Barthe on the incensation of the offertory gifts.  I went right to this section, because I’ve been looking for some time now for an explanation of the way the priest makes the circular incensations, echoed in, for example, the rite of consecration of a church.

The priest then traces three circles with the smoking censer around the offerings consisting of the bread and the chalice, while saying, Et descendat super nos misericordia tua . . . (and may thy mercy come down upon us) in order to show that this host and this sacrifice are surrounded by the merits of Jesus Christ. This good savor of the merits and prayers of Christ, which fills the entire house (Jn 12:3), also recalls the gesture of Mary Magdalen. We will therefore note that this triple censing recalls the three occasions when she anointed Christ (or, in the case of the last, the anointing prepared for the tomb and which she wished to carry out on Easter morning, the occasion when she wanted to anoint Christ, since the intention is as good as the action): the first being when she anointed Jesus’s feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7:36–38); the second being when she spread perfume on his hair (Mt 26:6–7) and his feet (Jn 12:3) in the house of Simon the leper; and the third being when she bought aromatic spices to go and anoint Jesus when he had been laid in the tomb (Mk 16:1). The spread of the incense, like that of the perfume spread by Mary Magdalen’s vase, signifies that this action, which heralds the meritorious death of Christ, shines out over all the church: “Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her” (Mt 26:13).

Beautiful.

This pattern of incensation was destroyed for the Novus Ordo by the “experts” of the Concilium who were tasked with a reform that was supposed to make no changes that were a) not organic developments from existing forms and b) truly for the good of the people.