Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Day 3: St. Ann Novena – “I cast myself at your feet…”

Posted on 19 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Share and re-tweet, please.

17 July through 26 July, Ann’s feast day in both traditional and post-Conciliar calendars, we can pray a NOVENA to the grandmother of God, the mother of Mary.

Here is one novena prayer to St Ann. There are others. Pray it (or others) every day from 17 through 26 July. You will have your own petitions as I have mine.

I ask St Ann to soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes. I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.

Say this each day.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glorious St. Anne, we think of you as filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I commend to you under your special protection

(Mention your intention here…)

Deign to commend it to your daughter, our Blessed Lady and lay it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy conclusion. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to face. With you and Mary and all the saints, may I praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen. Good St Anne, mother of her who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, pray for me.

Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…

Who will join me in this Novena?

And…

GO TO CONFESSION!

(I did.)

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
1 Comment

Seriously humorous SSPX statement on “Traditionis custodes” and a terrific imaginary curve ball

Posted on 19 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The SSPX office in Menzingen put out a statement, still only in French, about Traditionis custodes. HERE Here’s a taste…

From Summorum Pontificum to Traditionis custodes, or from the Nature Preserve to the Zoo

[…]

A organized extinction

While Francis is the defender of endangered animal or plant species, he determines and promulgates the extinction of those who are attached to the immemorial rite of Holy Mass. This species no longer has the right to live: it must disappear. And all means will be used to achieve this result.

And first, a strict reduction in freedom. Until now, the spaces reserved for the ancient rite allowed a certain latitude of movement, a bit like game preserves. Today we have switched to the zoo regimen: cages, narrowly bounded and demarcated. Their number is strictly monitored, and once installed, it will be forbidden to provide others.

The guards – or should we say the jailers? – are none other than the bishops themselves.

[…]

Forbidden to migrants

While the Pope continues to deal with all types of migrants, the prisons he sets up have walled-in borders that cannot be crossed from the outside.

To be sure not to see wildlife preserves set up, the Pope forbids any extension of the prison (Article 3, paragraph 6): “The bishop (…) will take care not to authorize the constitution of new groups.”

This measure is also akin to sterilization: these savages of the past must disappear, they are prohibited from reproducing and perpetuating their species. [You wouldn’t want those people breeding.]

[…]

Vaccination against Lefebvrism

The great fear of contamination by the Lefebvrist virus is exorcised by the vaccine Vat. II – of the Moderno laboratory – compulsory (Article 3, paragraph 1): “The bishop (…) will ensure that such groups do not exclude the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform, of the provisions of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of the Sovereign Pontiffs. ”

And anything that could be a source of potential infection is ruthlessly eliminated (Article 8): “Previous standards, instructions, concessions and customs, which do not comply with the provisions of this Motu Proprio, are repealed. ”

[…]

Gotta hand it to them. They’ve got a sense a humor.

[UPDATE: Alas, it seems that, according to @EduardHabsburg, what follows is “fake news”. That would explain that rather abrupt tone.]

Meanwhile, the Primate of Hungary (a nation I am liking more and more as I do their food), Péter Card. Erd? (whom I am liking more and more), issue a statement. I will add that Erd? is a distinguished canonist. As a matter of fact, I just finished reading a paper by him in Latin on the problems in law with the meaning of the terms munus, officium, and ministerium, in view of trying to figure out what Benedict XVI announcement of abdication meant.

Cardinal Péter Erdo yesterday published an official decree as Primate of Hungary: pic.twitter.com/WXQNovCLS4

— Chad Pecknold (@ccpecknold) July 18, 2021

Okay… that’s it. I was on the fence before. I’m going to start learning Magyar.

Posted in Canon Law, Lighter fare, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, SSPX, Traditionis custodes | Tagged Card. Erdo, SSPX, Traditionis custodes
10 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 220

Posted on 18 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by The Great Roman™

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Rome Shot
1 Comment

Traditionis custodes: Separate But Unequal

Posted on 18 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Art. 3. The bishop of the diocese in which until now there exist one or more groups that celebrate according to the Missal antecedent to the reform of 1970:
§ 2. is to designate one or more locations where the faithful adherents of these groups may gather for the eucharistic celebration (not however in the parochial churches and without the erection of new personal parishes);

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Religious Liberty, Traditionis custodes | Tagged segregation, Traditionis custodes
23 Comments

Day 2: St. Ann Novena – “Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles,…”

Posted on 18 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Share and re-tweet, please.

17 July through 26 July, Ann’s feast day in both traditional and post-Conciliar calendars, we can pray a NOVENA to the grandmother of God, the mother of Mary.

Here is one novena prayer to St Ann. There are others. Pray it (or others) every day from 17 through 26 July. You will have your own petitions as I have mine.

I ask St Ann to soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes. I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.

Say this each day.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(Mention your intention here…)

Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…

Who will join me in this Novena?

And…

GO TO CONFESSION!

(I did.)

Posted in ACTION ITEM! |
1 Comment

VIDEO: Measured remarks from a convert about “Traditionis custodes”

Posted on 18 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Brian Holdsworth, a convert who was involved in a strikingly liberal parish for a long while, eventually began a family and started thinking in a new way about the Faith. He made the entirely reasonable and predictable move to the Traditional Latin Mass.

Brian is by no means a bomb thrower.

In his recent vlog he discusses his dismay over the harsh tone, the autocratic basis and inevitably divisive effect of the Fugitive Slave Act of 2021 Traditionis custodes.

He predicts that this crackdown will result in far more polarization and, for the younger clergy, will produce the opposite effect. He, as I have also remarked, opines that, because of the demographic disaster in the Church, younger priests – who are far more open and even longing for Tradition (properly understood as beginning before 1963) – will be the only ones left to appoint to positions of authority.

At the end of his vlog, Brian remarks that, he has started to rethink his position that Archbp. Lefebvre was wrong in what he did.

He has a couple of suggestions for what people who may be deprived of the Traditional Mass. First, if you can’t have pastoral care from the diocese, go to the SSPX. Next, if you stay at your parishes anyway, stage a coup. Get involved (as I have been saying for YEARS) and take over. Get into positions of influence on the parish council, etc. etc. etc. Practical? A hard, long-term plan, but it could be effective, so long as the roll of the dice doesn’t go against you with the appointment of some rat who hates all that you love. After all, bishops have the power to hurt you in a thousand ways… and they can always hurt you more.

Posted in SSPX, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, Traditionis custodes | Tagged Traditionis custodes
18 Comments

“Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue.”

Posted on 17 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Happy Feast of Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine and Companions, the Martyrs of Compiègne. Carmelites.

In 1794, the Place de la Nation on the east side of Paris was called the Place du Trône-Renversé… Toppled Throne Square.

In 1792 a guillotine was set up here and the killing began.

Robespierre and Barère made terror an instrument of governance:

“Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue”, quoth Robespierre.

Plus ça change.

On 17 July of this same year, 1794, 11 Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Compiègne, together with three lay sisters and two tertiaries were guillotined and buried in a mass grave in the nearby Picpus Cemetery. They had for a while been living with English Benedictine nuns, who were forbidden their native England. The Carmelites dedicated themselves to prayer for the restoration of peace in France and for the Church. Hence, they were arrested, shifted to Paris, and publicly murdered for the encouragement of the mob.

As the Carmelite nuns, aged 30 to 78, went to the razor, they renewed their vows and sang the either the Salve Regina or the Veni Creator Spiritus, accounts vary.

One by one they knelt before the prioress and asked permission to die.

“Permission to die, Mother?”
“Go, my daughter!”

Here is the dramatized scene.

Again, in close proximity, Carmelites and oppression.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Martyrs of Compiègne
11 Comments

A quick review of 16 July

Posted on 17 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I know that it can be perilous to line historical events up on a certain day and ponder their meaning, but – given the special circumstances – let’s do it anyway.

Firstly, 16 July.

In 1945 the first nuclear weapon was detonated.

In 1918 the family of the Tsar of Russia were cruelly slaughtered.

In 1045 the Great Eastern-Western Schism began.

On 16 July we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (which means “garden”). Carmel is especially associated with the Prophet Elijah. Elijah slew hundreds priests of the demon Baal, at Carmel. Jezebel would seek vengeance.

Mount Carmel is also the end point of what is called the Sword of St. Michael. If you draw a line to connect 7 shrines of St. Michael across Europe, where Michael appeared, you find a straight line from Skillig Michael, Ireland, down to, Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is the “point” of Michael’s Sword, as it were.

A reader pointed out that the children of Fatima saw our Lady stop the angel, perhaps Michael, from striking the Earth with a sword.

The next full day after Our Lady of Mount Carmel we begin a Novena to her mother, St. Ann. It is in the 17 July issue of L’Osservatore Romano that the document Traditionis custodes appears, promulgated. However, if you go to L’Osservatore you now see this:

On the single page they now let you see, there is an above the fold piece with the title: Il Papa ai Fratri minori francescani in capitolo: “Fare misericordia con gli ultimi” … The Pope to the Franciscan Friars Minor in chapter: “Be merciful among the least”.

The day after his brutal cruelty to the single most marginalized group in the Church today.

Some of the least are least-er than others, I guess.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

St. Ann intercede for us.

St. Joseph, … do your thing.

Posted in The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged 16 July, Traditionis custodes
10 Comments

Day 1: St. Ann Novena

Posted on 17 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Share and re-tweet, please.

17 July through 26 July, Ann’s feast day in both traditional and post-Conciliar calendars, we can pray a NOVENA to the grandmother of God, the mother of Mary.

Here is one novena prayer to St Ann. There are others. Pray it (or others) every day from 17 through 26 July. You will have your own petitions as I have mine.

I ask St Ann to soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes. I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.

Say this each day.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(Mention your intention here…)

Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…

Who will join me in this Novena?

And…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, ACTION ITEM!, GO TO CONFESSION |
8 Comments

ACTION ITEM! PRAY! NOVENA to St. Ann – 17-16 July. WHO WILL JOIN ME?

Posted on 16 July 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today I have often thought of the late, great “Extraordinary Ordinary”, Bp. Robert Morlino, Bishop of Madison, who died in November 2018.

After Summorum Pontificum Bp. Morlino embraced the Church’s traditional liturgical worship and responded to requests with fatherly generosity to his flock, giving them bread and not stones, fish and not serpents (cf. Matthew 7). He asked his seminarians to learn to celebrate the TLM even if they didn’t think they would use it: he knew that it was important for them to know it. They responded well and the number of TLMs in Madison grew, cum serena pace. custo

It is not just because Morlino was the “Extraordinary Ordinary” that he came to mind today. As is happens, perhaps because he was originally from Scranton where the National Shrine of St. Ann is located, that he had a strong devotion to St Ann.

Tomorrow 17 July through 26 July, Ann’s feast day in both traditional and post-Conciliar calendars, we can pray a NOVENA to the grandmother of God.

Here is one novena prayer to St Ann. There are others. Pray it (or others) every day from 17 through 26 July. You will have your own petitions as I have mine.

I especially will ask St Ann to soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes. I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.

Say this each day.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glorious St. Anne, we think of you as filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I commend to you under your special protection

(Mention your intention here…)

Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…

Who will join me in this Novena?

And…

GO TO CONFESSION!

I suspect quite a few people will need to go after today.

By the way, an exorcist friend of mine said that, shortly after Bp. Morlino’s death, he use Morlino’s name on a demon. The demon went bananas in fury. I’m pretty sure, especially as Bp. Morlino, a good man, was anointed and given the Apostolic Pardon at two times during his decline into death. I think we have in him an intercessor in heaven.

He would like this novena.