“If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Posted on 6 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Every once in a while I get a question about Fr. John Corapi, once a highly sought and popular speaker who influenced a lot of people.  He eventually had a sort of train-wreck in his life and dropped out of sight.   Corapi comes to my mind occasionally because we were, coincidentally, ordained together.  I didn’t know him at the time.  He was just another one of the guys being ordained that day.

This upcoming 26 May will be our 30th anniversary.

When queried about Fr. Corapi, I haven’t been able to give any news, until now.   I was sent a link to a piece by Matt Abbott at RenewAmerican.com about him.  HERE

It seems that Fr. Corapi has reconciled with his religious society (SOLT) and has living as a monk, praying and doing penance.

If this is indeed the case, then good for him.  We should all be happy when a person turns around.

It amazes me that some people who profess to be Christian are so fast to thrown a repentant and converted person’s past life in their teeth.   Don’t we want, and hope for and pray for the conversion of sinners?  When they do, shouldn’t we rejoice?  We don’t have to make them our best friends all of a sudden.   We might not rouse ourselves up to be able to like them very much.  But we should at least be as gracious toward them as we would hope they would be to us were the situation reversed, had we done the harm.

For example, I would be over the moon were someone like Joe Biden publicly to denounce his evil positions about abortion.  I certainly wouldn’t continue to drub him with his past positions if he genuinely changed and made it public.   I would be ecstatic were certain Jesuits to reverse their ways.

We need to be merciful not just toward the repentant and converted, but also toward the unrepentant and even malicious who continue in their evil work.    Mind you, I do NOT mean Fr. Corapi in any way as the latter.  He has, to my knowledge, never directed any harm in my direction.  But there are those who have.

I regularly pray for my enemies, people who even now are harassing and slandering me, people who have done unjust harm.  I say Masses for them.  I genuinely want them not to die in their sins and go to Hell.  I sincerely hope they will attain the bliss of heaven.   I ask God to give them what they truly need, what is truly good for them for repentance.  Were they to apologize for the harm they’ve done I would warmly forgive them, even as I strive to forgive them now, in advance.  I take as a model, St. Thomas More who in his final letter to Henry VIII hoped: “I should once meet with your Grace again in heaven, and there be merry with you”.

“[I]f you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15

A stance of unforgiving rigidity is lethal to one’s own soul.

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Daily Rome Shot 149

Posted on 6 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by Bree Dail.

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Daily Rome Shot 148

Posted on 5 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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4 May: Feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Posted on 4 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.    There are, however, I believe really 284 beatified and canonized martyrs from the time of the Reformation in England.

The monstrous Henry VIII began to execute those who would not sign on to the Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534 and which claimed that the King and his issue were “the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England”, thus usurping the place of the Vicar of Christ, the Pope.  Clement VII had refused to grant an annulment to Henry who wanted to put aside his duly married wife Catherine of Aragon.  After the Act of Supremacy, Parliament passed the Treason Act.  Anyone refusing to sign on to the Act of Supremacy was therefore deemed to have committed treason, a capital crime.  Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher were the most famous of those slain by refusing to go along.   There was another Act of Supremacy passed in 1558 under Elizabeth because the Catholic Queen Mary had had the previous Act repealed in 1554.   This would lead eventually to the virtual conflation of Church and State which has remained as a powerful corrosive force in the Anglican “Church” of England to this day.  Effectively, as societal mores change, because of politics the doctrine of its “Church” must change.

At the time of Elizabeth, Pope St. Pius V in 1570 excommunicated the Queen and released all her subjects from obedience to her.  In turn she enacted harsher laws, making it high treason for any priest to be in England and for any person to aid them.  The usual punishment was to hang, draw and quarter then, many at Tyburn which is now at a traffic crossing in London near Marble Arch at the intersection of Edgeware and Oxford Street.

In 1896 Leo XIII declared in his Bull Apostolicae curae that Anglican orders were “absolutely null and void”.   In 2000 the CDF clarified in Dominus Iesus that bodies without apostolic succession are not, technically, true churches, and refers to them as “ecclesial communities”.

Once upon a time, the Feast of the Forty Martyrs was celebrated on 25, which is the Feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, whose relics are in San Lorenzo in Panisperna in Rome.

Speaking of Rome, the residence of English seminarians the priests studying in the Eternal City, the English College not far from the Palazzo Farnese on the Via di Monserrato.   The chapel of the College has murals of the English Martyrs, some of whom had studied in Rome in that very place.

In May of 2018, I went to the English College for a spectacular exposition of items from the time of the English martyrs.  For example:

Alumni of the English College have reason to be proud of their fellows.   My good friend Fr. Timothy Finigan has posted a video about the English Martyrs and I refer you to his fine blog. HERE

Let us not forget that there are modern martyrs.  The number of martyrs in the 20th century is truly staggering.  There are our suffering brethren in China, now in an ever worsening position because of the “deal” made with the Holy See.  There are signs of rising persecution within and without.

Ask the holy martyrs of every age to help us in our times.

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Daily Rome Shot 147

Posted on 4 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by Bree Dail.

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Canons of St. Peter’s forbidden to enter Basilica for the May Rosary

Posted on 3 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the Italian blog Messa in Latino we receive news about the Canons of St. Peter’s Basilica that was in Il Messaggero.

What, who are canons?

There are all sorts of canons.  “Canon” is applied to the list of books of Scripture, the individual laws in a collection called the Code, and to certain persons.

In the Roman, Latin Church among the things that canon can mean is a members of a group called a chapter (capitulum) or college.  Historically they would live together.  Today, not so much.   Cathedrals and great churches had chapters which saw to the financial and material issues of the buildings, holdings, etc.   They had also a liturgical role to sing the office and to be present at liturgical functions.   Canons had particular dress and their living from the chapter.

In Europe there are still chapters, but these structures have disappeared in these USA.

The major basilicas of Rome have chapters of canons, including St. Peter’s.    The 24 main canons (there are other “honorary canons”, clerics who need some income) have been an important component of the whole life of this important basilica.   They have for centuries been present for papal functions.  They have participated in the administration of the goods, holdings and buildings associated with the basilica.   They have their own chapel in St. Peter’s and a sacristy.

For centuries, indeed a millennium, since at least the 10th century, canons have been central to the life of St. Peter’s, old and new.

Messa in Latino reports something from Il Messaggero:

The Pope forbids Canons to enter St. Peter’s

1 May 2021 by Franca Giansoldati

Vatican City – “Forbidden to enter St. Peter’s.  Today the canons of the Basilica cannot enter.  Orders from Superiors.”  This is the phrase uttered by an embarrassed worker at the Basilica, delivered to the disconcerted Canons of St. Peter’s who today had desired to participate in the Rosary with Pope Francis.

[…]

For some time now, however, the canons – there are about thirty of them – seem to be in Pope Francis’ crosshairs. It is probably one of those sectors in which he would like to bring some order.  A few years ago the Pope, seeing two canons during a solemn function serving behind the Cardinals in their usual fuchsia-colored garb, it is said that the dumbfounded Pope asked who were “those two priests dressed in technicolor”.

[…]

After the Suppression of individual Masses in St. Peter’s, and now this, one wonders what we might read in the near future.

“St. Peter’s converted to museum.  Residual liturgies moved to Paul VI Audience Hall.”

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Daily Rome Shot 146

Posted on 3 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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2 May: St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor. Shall we ever see his like again?

Posted on 2 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It being the 4th Sunday after Easter (N.O.: 5th of), we don’t give a lot of space to the veneration of saints at the altar today.

However, today is the Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.  He died on this date in 373.

Athanasius is a figure of titanic importance in the history of the Church and of her doctrinal orthodoxy.  He was Bishop of Alexandria at the time when Arianism had swept through the Church to the point that St. Jerome would describe those times in stark terms: “The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find itself Arian.” Athanasius struggled mightily against Arianism and was treated with brutal harshness by secular and church authorities who had fallen into the heresy. Athanasius is one of the four great Eastern Doctors, along with Sts. John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus.

He experienced exile five times. St. Athanasius, pray for me. At last he returned to Alexandria in his final years and put his shattered diocese back together by preaching the Nicean Faith.

A great Creed is attributed to St. Athanasius, but he did not compose it. It was a later work. But it is a terrific creed and you should know it! The Church acknowledges it as one of its approved creeds. HERE

His body eventually was taken to Venice, to the Chiesa di San Zaccaria, where you can venerate it along with that of Zachary, father of John the Baptist.

Let’s have a quick look at the Collect for the Mass for St. Athanasius in the Ordinary Form..

2002MR:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui beatum Athanasium episcopum
divinitatis Filii tui propugnatorem eximium suscitasti,
concede propitius,
ut, eius doctrina et protectione gaudentes,
in tui cognitione et amore sine intermissione crescamus.

A propugnator is one who fights “in the place of” another, as indicated in that proposition pro in this compound.  “Champion” is a good way to convey that subtlety.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Father,
you raised up St. Athanasius
to be an outstanding defender
of the truth of Christ’s divinity.
By his teaching and protection
may we grow in your knowledge and love.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you.

You decide.

Sometimes the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is compared to St. Athanasius.  I think the comparison limps a little.  However, there is no doubt that the late Archbishop was a zealous champion of the Faith and that he was, from time to time, treated badly by those in power.

And let us not forget to pray for another, current propugnator, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, of Kazakhstan.

Try his books:

Dominus Est – It Is the Lord! Reflections of a Bishop of Central Asia on Holy Communion

US HERE

Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age

US HERE

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How cool, how quotable is St. Catherine of Siena? Have a look.

Posted on 2 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day, 30 April, was in the traditional calendar the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, Doctrix of the Church. In the Novus Ordo her feast falls on 29 April (her dies natalis). She was canonized by a favorite of mine, Pius II, in 1461. Her feast started out on 29 April, her death date, but because that conflicted with the feast of St. Peter Martyr (of Verona), and since he was a really hot saint at the time, Catherine’s celebration was moved to the 30th. However, since the veneration of saints with time will ebb and flow, and as interest in St. Peter Martyr waned, in 1969 Catherine resumed her feast on her birth date into heaven, 29 April.

She is a distinguished saint, a Third Order Dominican, showered with honors and with marks of confidence by the Church. For example, Bl. Pius IX made Catherine of Siena co-patroness of Rome, along with Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Philip Neri. Ven. Pius XII made her patroness of Italy along with St. Francis of Assisi. St. John Paul II named her Patroness of Europe together with with St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) and St. Bridget of Sweden. Most of all, in 1970 Paul VI named her Doctrix of the Church.

Among her accomplishments in life was the prompting of Pope Gregory XI (de Beaufort) from Avignon to Rome. Her biographer says that when she was a child she had visions of Christ and she vowed her life to God. At 21 she experienced what was called a “mystical marriage” with the Lord, which is a common way of depicting here in art. She also received the stigmata. She travelled widely in her time and was enormously influential. Catherine wrote extensively to authorities. Eventually in Rome, she would die at 33 years of age. Her written The Dialogue of Divine Providence, dialogues with God, was probably dictated in a state of ecstasy, not unlike the writings of St. Veronica Guiliani.

The other day I posted something from St. Catherine’s Dialogue, God describing how even though demons incite the sin of same-sex acts, those acts so offend the angelic intellects of the demons that they won’t remain present while they are being committed. That stirred the predictable screeching and puerile personal attacks on me from Twitter twits, presumably because those who were screeching engage in those acts or at least condone them. Sorry, twits. Take your case up with God.

I bring all this up about St. Catherine because my friend Ann Barnhardt, at her place, offered a terrific post with sayings of this great saint. I’ll give you a sample and then you can visit her place for the full blast experience:

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

Yes, Ma’am.

“Start being brave about everything. Drive out darkness and spread light. Don’t look at your weaknesses. Realize instead that in Christ crucified you can do everything.”

Yes, Ma’am.

“You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.”

Yes, Ma’am.

He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely.

Yes, Ma’am.

Preach the Truth as if you had a million voices. It is silence that kills the world.

Yes, Ma’am.

A soul cannot live without loving. It must have something to love, for it was created to love.

Yes, Ma’am.

It is only through shadows that one comes to know the light.

Yes, Ma’am.

To the servant of God… every place is the right place, and every time is the right time.

Yes, Ma’am.

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.

Yes, Ma’am.

We are of such value to God that He came to live among us… and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to Himself. We can only respond by loving God for His love.

Yes, Ma’am.

We’ve had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.

Yes, Ma’am.

Strange that so much suffering is caused because of the misunderstandings of God’s true nature. God’s heart is more gentle than the Virgin’s first kiss upon the Christ. And God’s forgiveness to all, to any thought or act, is more certain than our own being.

Yes, Ma’am.

You must believe in truth that whatever God gives or permits is for your salvation.

Yes, Ma’am.

Do not be satisfied with little things, because God wants great things!

Yes, Ma’am.

And of what should we be afraid? Our captain on this battlefield is Christ Jesus. We have discovered what we have to do. Christ has bound our enemies for us and weakened them that they cannot overcome us unless we so choose to let them. So we must fight courageously and mark ourselves with the sign of the most Holy Cross.

Yes, Ma’am.

Enrich your soul in the great goodness of God: The Father is your table, the Son is your food, and the Holy Spirit waits on you and then makes His dwelling in you.

[…]

There’s more there, but I’ll cut off after this mention of the Holy Spirit, for whom the Church prepares once again to greet at Pentecost.

St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

 

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Your Sunday Sermon notes – 4th Sunday after Easter (N.O. 5th of Easter) 2021

Posted on 2 May 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass for your Sunday (obligation or none), either live or on the internet? Let us know what it was.

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

Also, are your churches opening up? What was attendance like?

Mine.

If you are involved with preparing coffee and donuts after Mass (yes, this is returning) consider using Mystic Monk Coffee.  Use my link. You help the monks, you help yourselves, you help me.  A pretty good deal.

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