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{]:¬)

UPDATED: Wherein Fishwrap accidentally promotes something good! POLL ADDED

Posted on 29 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 20 Sept:

Some of the comments have spurred me to add a POLL to the post.

___ Originally posted Sep 29, 2017

These days I have not been watching nightly news and cable commentary and I am leaps and bounds more cheerful. Similarly, the less I glance at the National Schismatic Reporter (aka Fishwrap) the happier I am. However, I more or less have to keep part of an eye on the Fishwrap. Blech.

Today, however, one of you dumpster-diver readers spotted something fun at Fishwrap. They have an opinion piece against having American flags in church sanctuaries. Predictable, right?

However, the op-ed writer at Fishwrap opined:

As a simple step in the right direction, we could stop sending confusing signals and remove national flags from our church sanctuaries. Put them in narthexes or church halls. But removing national flags from our church sanctuaries and emphasizing the importance of turning our gaze to the depiction of Christ crucified at the front of the space would help us to remember who it is we worship and to whom our deepest loyalty belongs.

What is this I read?

Could he be advocating ad orientem worship?!?

If he is serious about turning our gaze to the crucified Lord… that’s the way to do it.

While we ponder that, here’s a shot from a recent Mass in the Diocese of Madison for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross… speaking of focus on the Cross.

UPDATE

So far comments have been added by those who seem to have missed the point. However, I’m happy to make lemonade from, you know, comments.

Let’s add a poll about flags in church.

Pick your best choice and, if you wish, add a comment, below. Anyone can vote but only registered, approved participants can comment.

Posted in Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, POLLS | Tagged ad orientem, flag, poll, sanctuary
41 Comments

Wherein Fr. Z’s spidey sense is tingling. Help requested.

Posted on 29 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

fatherZ-spiderman-vincenzo-sancte-pater-s

This image, by the great Vincenzo, brings back memories. VINCENZO! WHERE ARE YOU?

UPDATE: See below!

___

My spidey sense is tingling.

I’m having a flashback… but the details are a little vague. I need the help of the readership with this. You have long memories and can find stuff when you work together.

What brought this on?

The catholic Left is making more and more noises about repressing opinions that don’t coincide with their own. They are sending out whistles and signals. Some of them say they are tired of converts voicing opinions. That’s because converts tend to disagree with them. There are calls for Church authorities to “neutralize” people who don’t agree with the Left and to have them “purged“.

I suspect the Left’s next move will be something along the lines of calling for official guidelines or even legislation to “control” what is published (i.e., squelch opposition), a sort of Fairness Doctrine.

Such guidelines would be unenforceable, of course, but then they would have a sanctioned fire hose with which they could blast Catholics who dared to stand up to them.

And in calling for such a thing, they would, again, betray their hypocrisy.

This is where you readers come in. I have a fragment of a memory that you must fill in.

Waaay back in the day, during the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II – of happy memory – the late Archbp. John Foley for many years ran the Vatican’s office for Social Communications.

If I remember correctly, at one point Foley raised the idea of licensing Catholic journalists. The lefties of the Fishwrap et al., had a full-fledged spittle-flecked nutty breakdown.

Do you remember that?

___

UPDATE:

Once again, you readers have demonstrated your resourcefulness.

One of you sent excerpts from the 2002 document The Church and Internet:

II. 8. The proliferation of web sites calling themselves Catholic creates a problem of a different sort. As we have said, church-related groups should be creatively present on the Internet; and well-motivated, well-informed individuals and unofficial groups acting on their own initiative are entitled to be there as well. But it is confusing, to say the least, not to distinguish eccentric doctrinal interpretations, idiosyncratic devotional practices, and ideological advocacy bearing a ‘Catholic’ label from the authentic positions of the Church. We suggest an approach to this issue below.

III. 11. A special aspect of the Internet, as we have seen, concerns the sometimes confusing proliferation of unofficial web sites labeled ‘Catholic’. A system of voluntary certification at the local and national levels under the supervision of representatives of the Magisterium might be helpful in regard to material of a specifically doctrinal or catechetical nature. The idea is not to impose censorship but to offer Internet users a reliable guide to what expresses the authentic position of the Church.

Now we need the lib reactions.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, ACTION ITEM! | Tagged Card. Foley
24 Comments

Bullying @NCRonline calls for opposing voices to be “neutralized”

Posted on 29 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The root of “liberal” is Latin liber, meaning “free”. Hence, “liberals”: “Those with whom you are free to agree.”

God help you if you don’t.

At the National Sodomitic Reporter (aka Fishwrap), there is an editorial which reeks of the lib modus operandi: stiffle and crush.

The first hint that nearly every word in this editorial is a lie, “including ‘and’ and ‘the'”, is the title: “Editorial: Stop censoring, have a civil discussion”

They want ‘civil discussion’, do they?

Tell that to their combox fever swamp swarm and their foremost purveyor of “venom”. HERE.

Speaking of venom, I recall to the readership’s mind the ancient phrase, “in cauda venenum… the poison is in the tail”, that is, the real point comes at the end.

Here is the final line of the Fishwrap editorial:

Leaders of our institutions, in turn, must do their part to neutralize the cyberbullies. They must not capitulate.

“Leaders… must neutralize….”

It’s all about whom they would permit to speak. That’s the real point, the true agenda of their long ramble.

Agree with the Fishwrap and Amerika and you are on the good list, not only permitted but promoted to speak.

Disagree with the Fishwrap, etc., and you are to be silenced by authorities who, through force, must gag you and make you disappear. You must be neutralized.

You must be neutralized.

They’re terrified over there, friends, because they no longer have iron control over whose voices are allowed to raise questions and make statements. Hence, they turn to force. Call the authorities to bring in the dogs and the fire hoses.

Bullying, thy name is Fishwrap.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Liberals, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, You must be joking! | Tagged bullying, Fishwrap, National Schismatic Reporter
8 Comments

Pope Francis comments on ‘Amoris laetitia’ with Columbian Jesuits

Posted on 29 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the UK’s best Catholic weekly, the Catholic Herald (which sports my regular column in the print edition – SUBSCRIBE!), there is republished a note about comments made by Pope Francis about reading Amoris laetitia. The Pontiff spoke off-the-cuff to some Columbian Jesuits and opined:

“I want to repeat clearly that the morality of ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is Thomist”.

Some defenders of the objectively ambiguous elements of Amoris, which have caused so much confusion and manifest division, immediately started hopping up and down and pointing, “See! See! Indirect response to the Dubia! And 2+2=5!” Fishwrap, for example: “Francis responds to critics: Morality of ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is Thomist”

It is always interesting to read what Popes think, but let’s not get too oyfgetrogn about off-the-cuff remarks, which have no official weight.

Here’s the story:

Seeing, understanding and engaging with people’s real lives does not “bastardise” theology, rather it is what is needed to guide people toward God, Pope Francis told Jesuits in Colombia.

“The theology of Jesus was the most real thing of all; it began with reality and rose up to the Father,” he said during a private audience Sept. 10 in Cartagena, Colombia.

Meeting privately with a group of Jesuits and laypeople associated with Jesuit-run institutions in Colombia, the pope told them, “I am here for you,” not to make a speech, but to hear their questions or comments. [So, from the onset he didn’t intend to resolve anything.]

A Jesuit philosophy teacher asked what the pope hoped to see in philosophical and theological reflection today, not just in Colombia, but also in the Catholic Church in general.

Philosophy, like theology, the pope said, cannot be done in “a laboratory,” but must be done “in life, in dialogue with reality.” [Can’t it be done in both settings?]

The pope then said that he wanted to use the teacher’s question as an opportunity address — in justice and charity — the “many comments” concerning the post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the family, “Amoris Laetitia.”

Many of the commentaries, he said, are “respectable because they were made by children of God,” but they are “wrong.”

“In order to understand ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ you must read it from the beginning to the end,” reading each chapter in order, reading what got said during the synods of bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015, and reflecting on all of it, he said. [Okaaaaay…. ]

To those who maintain that the morality underlying the document is not “a Catholic morality” or a morality that can be certain or sure, “I want to repeat clearly that the morality of ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is Thomist,” that is, built on the moral philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, he said.

One of best and “most mature” theologians today who can explain the document, he told them, is Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna. [There are other theologians out there, as well-prepared as Card. Schonborn, who asked for clarifications.]

“I want to say this so that you can help those who believe that morality is purely casuistic,” he said, meaning a morality that changes according to particular cases and circumstances rather than one that determines a general approach that should guide the church’s pastoral activity. [Go back and read that again. Slowly. I have to scratch my head a little, because, as it seems to me, if I am not mistaken, there are those who read Amoris as saying that each case must be considered individually and that different outcomes can result in individual cases, such as in the cases of those who are civilly divorced and remarried being admitted, maybe, to Holy Communion. Wouldn’t that be “casuistic”. On the other hand, those who are seeking greater clarity about the controversial elements of Amoris, if I am not mistaken, hold that there is a general principle which cannot be abandoned in individual cases. So, how is it again that we are to “help those who believe that morality is purely casuistic”? Does the meaning of that phrase depend on the word “purely”?]

The pope had made a similar point during his meeting with Jesuits gathered in Rome for their general congregation in 2016. There he said, “In the field of morality, we must advance without falling into situationalism.”

“St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure affirm that the general principle holds for all but — they say it explicitly — as one moves to the particular, the question becomes diversified and many nuances arise without changing the principle,” he had said. It is a method that was used for the Catechism of the Catholic Church [?] and “Amoris Laetitia,” he added. [I need a sound Thomist to help me out with that. It sounds as if the principle of non-contradiction is in play here, but I could be wrong. If a “general principle” can be turned 180° through nuances, then… is it a general principle?]

“It is evident that, in the field of morality, one must proceed with scientific rigour and with love for the church and discernment. [With “scientific rigor”… as in a, say, “laboratory”?] There are certain points of morality on which only in prayer can one have sufficient light to continue reflecting theologically. And on this, allow me to repeat it, one must do ‘theology on one’s knees.’ You cannot do theology without prayer. This is a key point and it must be done this way,” he had told the Jesuits in Rome.

I’ll have to pray on this for a while.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, The Drill | Tagged Amoris Laetitia
39 Comments

SSPX Bp. Fellay about the #FilialCorrection

Posted on 28 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

SSPX Superior Bp. Bernard Fellay signed the Correctio Filialis. Libs pounced.

“OMG!”, they sneered, “The correction is so baaaad because an SSPX guy signed it!”, which you will immediately recognize as a really powerful argument.

Bp. Fellay explains why he signed.

From the site of the SSPX:

FSSPX.News: Why did you support the Correctio Filialis?

Bishop Fellay: This filial approach on the part of clerics and lay scholars, troubled by the heterodox propositions in Amoris Laetitia, is very important. Christ’s teaching on marriage can not be surreptitiously changed on the pretext that the times have changed and that pastoral care should adapt by offering ways to bypass doctrine. [And therein he touches on Card. Kasper’s contribution.]

I understand that the authors of the Correctio Filialis are overwhelmed by the division caused by Amoris Laetitia, [this is, objectively, occurring… division, that is… casused by AL] by the pope’s explanations of this document in recent declarations, and by his statements on Luther. In some countries, the bishops now allow communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, while in others they refuse it. Is Catholic morality variable? Can it be subject to contradictory interpretations?

Since September 2016, four cardinals have been respectfully asking the pope to “clarify” his Exhortation; this year they requested an audience. The only answer they received was silence, but silence is not an answer. [Well… it can be. Qui tacet consentire videtur.] On a question this serious and faced with the current divisions, the Holy Father must give a clear answer on the substance of the Exhortation.

In this sad situation of confusion, it is very important that the debate on these important questions grows, in order that the truth may be re-established and error condemned. [“it is very important that the debate on these important questions grows”]

That is why I supported this approach, but it is not so much the names of those who signed the Correctio Filialis as the objective value of the arguments presented that must be taken into account.

FSSPX.News: Does this affect the relations between the Society of St. Pius X and Rome?

Bishop Fellay: Our respect for the pope remains intact, and it is precisely out of respect for his office that we ask him as his sons to “confirm his brethren” by publicly rejecting the openly heterodox propositions that are causing so much division in the Church. [In case the libs didn’t catch it, calling the document a “filial” correction is a hint about the attitude in which it was submitted.]

I appreciated the answer of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi [1], who also signed the Correctio Filialis. He rightly declared that we are not the enemies of the pope. On the contrary, we do this because we love the Church.

This was Archbishop Lefebvre’s attitude and that of the Society of St. Pius X from the beginning. In his declaration on November 21, 1974, our founder said, “We adhere with all our heart and all our soul to Catholic Rome, guardian of the Catholic Faith and the traditions necessary to maintain it, and to Eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth. On the other hand we refuse and have always refused to follow the Rome of the neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies”; it is precisely this neo-Modernism and neo-Protestantism that the authors of the Correctio Filialis rightly denounced as the cause of the changes made by Amoris Laetitia in the doctrine and morality of marriage.

We are attached to Rome, Mater et Magistra, with every fiber of our being. We would no longer be Roman if we renounced her two-thousand-year-old doctrine; on the contrary, we would become the artisans of her demolition, with situation ethics dangerously upheld by weak doctrine.

Our fidelity to Tradition is not a way of living in the past, but a guarantee of sustainability for the future. It is on this condition alone we can serve the Church effectively.

FSSPX.News: What are your hopes for this Correctio Filialis?

Bishop Fellay: We must hope it will bring about a clearer realization of the gravity of the situation in the Church, both among the clergy and among the faithful. Indeed, as Benedict XVI admitted, “Peter’s barque is taking water on all sides”. This is no poetic image; it is a tragic reality. In this battle, faith and morals must be defended! [Oorah!]

We also hope that others among those who have souls in their care will show their support. In exposing the objectively unorthodox propositions, the signatories of the Correctio Filialis have simply said loudly and clearly what many know in their heart. Is it not time for these pastors to say so, loud and clear? But, again, it is less the number of signatures than the objective value of the arguments that counts. The Truth revealed by Christ is not quantifiable; it is above all immutable.

We must implore God that the Vicar of Christ may restore complete clarity to such an essential area; the divine law of marriage can not be changed without causing serious dissension. If nothing is done, the division that is appearing in the Church will become irreparable. For this reason we pray that Our Lord’s words to St. Peter may truly apply to Pope Francis: “And thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).

[1] Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, an economist and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion from 2009 to 2012, granted an interview to the Hispanic website Infovaticana(Sept. 24, 2017), that was republished by Vaticanist Marco Tosatti on his blog – Ed. Note.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Be The Maquis, Si vis pacem para bellum!, SSPX, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Bp. Bernard Fellay, correctio filialis
30 Comments

Fr. Blake on faithful clerics’ fear of vicious liberal reprisals

Posted on 28 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Let’s be clear about something. There is nothing more vicious than a liberal. For over 30 years I dealt with this first hand and I have the ecclesial scars on my back and in my heart to prove it.

My friend Fr. Ray Blake, PP of Brighton, has a stupendous post today about FEAR. HERE He was asked to sign the Correctio Filialis and he writes openly about his fear of reprisals if he does so.

He is right to be afraid. The question is, how shall we move forward, intelligently, and do the right thing even though we are in peril?

Here is some of Fr. Blake’s piece with my usual additions.

To Sign or Not to Sign

I have been asked to sign the Filial Correction, I signed the letter of the 45 academics and pastors last year, and almost immediately found Cardinal Nichols’ tanks parked on my lawn to inform me of his displeasure, which was quite mild unlike other lay signatories, who were sacked from their jobs in Catholic institutions for their pains, Dr. Josef Seifertis being the most high profile. I admit it, I am afraid to sign and I know other priests who share my fear. Many of those who might have signed have in the last four years have a certain fear about their place in the Church.

Rome and those surrounding the Pontiff have certainly become more vicious in defending him, never ever engaging in intellectual arguments, merely attacking like ravenous wolves or child bullies those who pose questions. The climate is bad throughout the Church, in Rome it is positively toxic. [I can attest that this is true. Rome is like… a WWI field full of trenches with creeping yellow gas.] Under Francis the Vatican has become a place of fear and arbitrary oppression, there was a public glimpse of that in the sacking of Cdl Mueller by the Pope, and earlier in the dismissal of a couple of priests from the CDF and amongst laymen of Libero Milone, former Auditor General and many others. It is not just in theology that 2+2=5, or whatever number the Pope chooses that day, it extends to morality and ordinary human decency, ultimately it is a serious attack on the rationality of the Catholic faith and intellectual rigour. [In the name of being “pastoral” and “compassionate”.]

The abusive attacks on any one who asks legitimate filial questions or even of people like Cardinal Burke and the other “Dubia Cardinas” or even Cdls Sarah or Mueller by the likes Austen Ivereigh, Rosica or Spadaro [Wile E., Beans, etc.] merely echo the statements of the notoriously immoderate Cardinal Madriaga the senior member of the Pope’s Council of Nine or the shocking insults always aimed at faithful Catholics by the Pope himself. Let us not even go to the shenanigans and manipulation surrounding the Synod on the Family

The men who rule the Church are not even in the worldly sense good, as the former Prefect of the CDF has said “power has become more important than truth”. It would be easy to dwell on the gay chem-sex parties hosted in the Vatican City itself and the advancement of those with a gay agenda, which produces apparently no reaction, not even a dismissal. In the matter of financial mismanagement and corruption, there appears to be window dressing masking inaction, John Allen seems to think this is the big issue above others. In fact, maybe because Francis centralises and 2+2 = whatever he decides, many of those in Rome suggest things have never been worse, a ‘kingdom of brigands’ as one former Nuncio described it.

Dioceses are not Rome but they do reflect Rome, Cardinals and bishops intimidate clergy and others who are faithful, if Francis has done anything it is to highlight a deep rift in the Church, marked by the quite extraordinary rise of an Ultramontane/Liberal faction against those who are faithful. Many bishops, who are often chosen for not for fidelity to Christ nor depth of learning nor moral fibre, not even their pastoral abilities but for their admin skills are quite happy to side with that faction which has power at the moment, moving Vicar of Bray-like from convinced Wojtylaians to Ratzingerians to Bergoglianians.

[…]

Read the rest over there.

I don’t get all misty-eyed about the nobility and romance of Pickett’s long uphill advance under artillery and rifle fire. That was a knuckle-headed defeat that turned the tide not just of a battle but, arguably, of a war. Heck, you can even win a battle and yet fail to achieve your desired outcome, as Pyrrhus found out when he took self-defeating casualties in his victory against the Romans at Heraclea.

Right now, however, one thing is for sure: people are still talking about the Correctio Filialis. That’s a win for truth and for souls.

People are still talking about the Dubia. That’s a win.

What we have to figure out is what tactics to adopt to achieve our long-term strategic goals.

The Dubia… the Correctio… are these stages in, say, a Catholic Salt March?

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Cri de Coeur, Mail from priests, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged correctio filialis, Fr. Ray Blake, The Salt March
28 Comments

7 Oct – Polish bishops urge 1 Million Poles to pray Rosary at border in honor of historic defeat of Islam

Posted on 27 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day in Madrid, I got to see the Juan of Austria’s personal pendant which flew on his ship at the Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571.

That victory, under the aegis of the Mother of God, was a turning point in world history.

For your Just Too Cool file.

From Breitbart:

A Million Christians to Pray Rosary on Poland’s Border Commemorating Historical Defeat of Islam

Poland’s bishops have urged the nation’s Catholics to join a massive rosary prayer crusade along the country’s 2,000-mile border to pray for the salvation of their country. [God love the bishops of Poland! They are not letting the memory of John Paul II’s Magisterium be snuffed out. Also, the conference paid to have translated and published in Polish the super-important book Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church – US HERE – UK HERE]
Organizers say they expect up to a million people to participate in the “Rosary on the Borders” event on October 7, the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, where “the Christian fleet overcame the Muslim armada, saving Europe from Islamization.” [Do I hear an “Amen!”?]

[…]“We believe that if the rosary is prayed by about a million Poles along the borders of the country, it may not only change the course of events, but open hearts of our compatriots to the grace of God,” the organisers say on their website.

“The powerful prayer of the Rosary can affect the fate of Poland, Europe, and even the whole world,” it reads.

The “Rosary on the Borders” event will also mark the end of the Fatima centenary, celebrating 100 years since the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, in the spring of 1917.

The Polish bishops’ conference has endorsed the event, and asked all Catholics to join the rosary prayer for “the intentions of Poland and the whole world,” even if they are physically unable to make it to the border.

“Families may pray in their homes, sick in hospitals, and parish communities in their churches,” they said.

“A hundred years ago, Mary gave these three Portuguese children a message of salvation: repent, give reparation for sins against my Immaculate Heart and pray the rosary,” the bishops said. Rosary on the Borders is a “special opportunity” to fulfil that calling.

Every January, the Church in Poland celebrates an annual Day of Islam, organised by the Joint Council of Catholics and Muslims and the Committee for Dialogue with Non-Christian Religions of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.

Auxiliary Bishop Henryk Ciereszko of Bialystok, whose diocese hosted the event this year, said that the day “would be first and foremost a prayer meeting” and would also be “an opportunity to counter violence together” in “the context of the terrorist attacks and the Middle East war.”

Very cool.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Just Too Cool, Our Catholic Identity, Our Solitary Boast, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged 1571, Fatima, Islam, Lepanto, Poland, Polish Bishops, rosary
26 Comments

ASK FATHER: Priest uses the Common Preface on a Solemnity

Posted on 27 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

What do you think of a priest who by reason of not able to find the Preface of Christ the King uses the the Common Preface instead in a mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King?

What do I think of such a priest? I gather that you want me to be negatively critical about him.

First, I don’t have enough information. Hence, I imagine that Father is, say, 92 years of age, with cataracts. As his arthritic hands tremble with effort, he flips through a few pages, peering in vain. Finally, because in his priestly heart he doesn’t want to keep the people in the pews who have to rush home after work to feed their hungry children, he uses the Common Preface.

So, what do you think of Father?

It is a good custom and discipline before Mass for the priest to check the Missal in the sacristy before it goes out to the sanctuary.

Just as a carpenter needs to know his way around the tools of his trade, just as the scholar needs to know the location of important reference books in library, so too the priest should know his way around the books and instruments, such as the Ordo, for sacred liturgical worship – his main and most important activity.

It is a good idea once in a while to re-familiarize oneself with these books, to spend time paging through them, getting to know them well.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged liturgical books
13 Comments

27 September – Sts Cosmas and Damian – a visit to their tomb in Venice

Posted on 27 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian… in the traditional calendar of the Roman Church. I have a special affection for these saints as they are both my confirmation names. We get to say their names in the Roman Canon, with a head bow today.

Here is the reading about them from Matins in the Breviarium Romanum:

Cosmas et Damiánus, fratres Arabes, in Ægéa urbe nati, nóbiles médici, imperatóribus Diocletiáno et Maximiáno, non magis medicínæ sciéntia quam Christi virtúte, morbis étiam insanabílibus medebántur. Quorum religiónem cum Lysias præféctus cognovísset, addúci eos ad se iubet, ac de vivéndi institúto et de fídei professióne interrogátos, cum se et Christiános esse, et christiánam fidem esse ad salútem necessáriam, líbere prædicárent, deos venerári ímperat; et, si id recúsent, minátur cruciátus et necem acerbíssimam. Verum, ut se frustra hæc illis propónere intélligit: Colligáte, inquit, manus et pedes istórum, eósque exquisítis torquéte supplíciis. Quibus iussa exsequéntibus, nihilóminus Cosmas et Damiánus in senténtia persistébant. Quare, ut erant vincti, in profúndum mare iaciúntur. Unde cum salvi ac solúti essent egréssi, mágicis ártibus præféctus factum assígnans, in cárcerem tradit, ac postrídie edúctos in ardéntem rogum ínici iubet; ubi, cum ab ipsis flamma refúgeret, várie et crudéliter tortos secúri pércuti vóluit. Itaque, in Iesu Christi confessióne, martýrii palmam accepérunt.

Who would like to tackle that today?

In the Novus Ordo calendar, these two medical saints were celebrated yesterday. WHY MOVE THEM ONE DAY?

Here is the modern Martyrologium Romanum entry:

Sanctorum Cosmae et Damiani, martyrum, qui nullam mercedem petentes Cyrrhi in Euphrastesia medicinam exercuisse feruntur et multi gratuitis curis eorum sanati.

Meh. Not nearly as fun at the traditional entry.

Let’s go visit the tomb of the saints in Venice!

Motoring out to San Giorgio on the Giudecca island in the Bacino.

It’s across from San Marco.

Church of San Giorgio on Giudecca island across from the main islands of Venice.

Inside we find their tomb in a side altar on the right side of the nave.

Note the inscription…

OSSA SS•MAR
COSME ET DAMIANI
IACENT HIC

When you go to San Giorgio, be sure to ascend the bell tower for a great view.

On the way back to San Marco.

Visiting the tombs of saints can be hungry work. So, to build up one’s fortitude for the next round of adventures, proper victuals must be consumed.

Sardine in saor. (Yes, I recommend this restaurant… get the granseola.)

Spaghetti and squids in squid ink. Yum. Yes, it turns your teeth black for a while. It’s great.

Some mudbug and mayo.

Afterwards, catching up on the day’s doings with friends over a drink and puff in the square in front of the Basilica.

Just in time for the bells. Sorry, the video is a little dark because, well, it was a little dark.

Posted in On the road, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Venice
10 Comments

Wherein Fr. Z rants… about and to diocesan priests

Posted on 27 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A while back, I posted a comment on the post of a young man who had, quite properly, praised the work of those orders, fraternities and institutes set up under the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“. He left out diocesan priests.

A few days ago, I posted about the conference held in Rome for the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum. There was, quite properly, fulsome praise for the same orders, fraternities and institutes. They left out diocesan priests.

They also left out all of South and North America, but that’s another issue.

The orders, fraternities and institutes do great work. However, the real gains will be made when the older, traditional form explodes out of those small settings into mainstream parish life. That will happen when more diocesan priests take up their banners and run forward.

Priests of the orders, fraternities and institutes may experience a little local opposition from neighboring parishes and they may be watched carefully by the bishop. However, they are where they are because the bishop said they could be. Also, they have the full support from their own superiors.

Priests of dioceses, on the other hand, can face fierce opposition from their diocesan brethren as well as something akin to persecution from their bishops even for using a little Latin, preaching about Communion on the tongue, fostering only altar boys, making moves toward ad orientem worship even in the context of the Novus Ordo. Let them implement Summorum Pontificum and… well….

The challenges of priests of orders, fraternities and institutes can be great, but, I submit, they are AA-Ball compared to the Major League obstacles faced by the garden variety, unsung diocesan priests who simply desire to be Roman Catholic in an increasingly hostile and volatile terrain.

Today I read a piece posted by Fr. Hunwicke at his fine and thoughtful page, Mutual Enrichment, which touches on the very points I’ve been making.

The aetiology and mechanics of Fear [Aetiology is the study of the origins and causes of things.]

I [Fr. H] have taken out a very moving Comment from the last thread; and I reproduce it here, with one or two personal details omitted, so that I can comment on it. My words express only my own views.

“There is another territory to be heard; the diocesan clergy, and I can testify to the fear out there. I feel it myself; … I entered the diocesan priesthood from Lutheranism [As did I!] … my decision to sign may come with danger … Unfortunately, we live in times of great venality and danger for those who just express simple orthodoxy. Going this next step is necessary but fraught with peril. Cosmas and Damian, Cyprian and Justina, pray for our courage.”

Fear, my dear Father? You’ve certainly put your finger on it there. Perhaps you, like many of us, have spoken with brother priests who work in Rome, and who talk a great deal about the atmosphere of fear which pervades the clergy who serve the Holy See. [To which I can attest.] And, at the risk of breaking secrets, let me tell you about the most striking experience I personally had while we were preparing for the publication of the Correctio: clergy who agreed with it wholeheartedly but feared to take the risk. (But, thanks be to God, the signatories have now risen to 147.) [One of the things that struck me about the sneering dismissals from the critics of the Correctio was that they, too, knew that thousands would have signed were it not for fear of the brutal lashback that would have come from their overlords.]

“Nobody spoke about him with boldness (parrhesia) because of fear …”(John 7:13). However, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”(I John 4:18).

Fear is quite beautiful, isn’t it, as a Satanic operational strategy? The Enemy disseminates Fear. He fills good honest men with guilt because they feel too fearful to do what they know they should do. And then, when the Correctio is published, his ministers sneer as they answer the journalists’ questions, and glibly point out how few signatories there are. As Marco Tossati has put it, “Belittle, label, marginalise”.

God, our most sweet Creator and Redeemer, works by Love, by the Blood of Christ which streams in the firmament. It is the Enemy who does his work by Fear. Since early in this pontificate, it is Fear, on wings of vituperation, that has cast its shadow.

As the Enemy realises that the Love of Christ is proving too powerful for him, his fury may very well urge him to even greater acts of violence. There may be more to endure before we are finished with it all. But it will be no match for the splendour which will radiate from the right hand of Mary (Fatima, Third Secret).

This is no time to lose our nerve.

Dear diocesan priests… dear brothers….

Do. Not. Lose. Your. Nerve.

We must be ready to take some hits now.

Learn the Traditional Form and begin catechizing your flocks about our patrimony and about the virtue of religion, about Mystery, about the Four Last Things.

The queue is ON.