My adoptive parish in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the official parish in Rome for the traditional Roman Rite, will be video streaming Masses. However, for YouTube to allow them to stream LIVE, they have to have at least 1000 subscribers.
Right now they have 758. LET’S CHANGE THAT!
CLICK and SUBSCRIBE
UPDATE:
It’s 11:41… I posted this at 11:24.
You broke the 1000 barrier!
Keep going!
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Given that the priests at the chapel where I typically confess are all rather elderly and at high risk should they become infected, would it potentially be morally problematic to go to confession and put them at risk? My job puts me into significant close contact with dozens of people from all walks of life per day, and I could conceivably have the virus and be capable of passing it on for quite some time before I even know it. The confessional room has a screen, but it’s certainly no disease barrier. Would there be any sin in potentially exposing one of these elderly priests, or am I just being overly scrupulous? Thank you.
Thanks for being concerned about your priests.
If you are a risk to them, then don’t go near them! If you suspect that you are infectious, then, yes, it would be a sin. If you are in danger of death, that’s another matter. The priest would, appropriately, get to you with the proper precautions.
Perhaps in the parish are might be a way to settle a priest in a place where you can still talk to him at a distance without there being a way to infect him (or others). I gamed a little bit of this out in another post a couple days ago. HERE Hint… read the blog.
Let’s take a worst case scenario.
People, maintaining some distance, come by the rectory or steps of the church and the priest gives General Absolution. Yes, there are times when General Absolution is appropriate. The usual conditions would apply.
Otherwise, …
Priest in a hazmat suit? QUAERITUR: Stole inside or outside?
Jail style meeting booths? Someone would have to disinfect the penitent’s side.
There could be a curtain, to preserve anonymity.
Actually, that’s starting to look like a good option!
Friends, Holy Church has been through plagues. We have all the tools we need, in the forms of the Sacraments you might need in time of deadly disease. We can absolve you and give you the Apostolic Pardon without standing over you. We can absolve you even if people are listening and you can’t make a regular confession. There is a way for just about any circumstance.
However, I sure would recommend that, if you are reasonably sure that you are not carrying the bug and can give it to others, get to confession SOON, before we have the sorts of lock downs we are seeing in other places, such as Italy.
Be smart.
Several sources sent to me about this chant, but a good one seems to be Rorate right now, which has a well crafted, useful page of the chant.
The origins of this prayer are, as some writings have detailed, from the Sisters of the Monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, Portugal, during the plague in 1317.
A way that it could be used liturgically:
Stélla caéli extirpávit
Quae lactávit Dóminum
Mórtis péstem quam plantávit
Prímus párens hóminum.
Ipsa stélla nunc dignétur
Sídera compéscere,
Quórum bélla plébem caédunt
Dírae mórtis úlcere.
O gloriósa stélla máris
A péste succúre nóbis:
Audi nos, nam te fílius
Níhil négans honórat.
Sálva nos, Jésu!
Pro quíbus vírgo máter te órat.
RECITATION OF THE LITANY OF LORETO… then:
?. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
?. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi
Oremus
Deus misericórdiae, Deus pietátis, Deus indulgéntiae, qui misértus es super afflictiónem pópuli tui, et dixísti Angelo percuténti pópulum tuum: Cóntine manum tuam ob amórem illíus Stellae gloriósae, cuius úbera pretiósa contra venénum nostrórum delictórum quam dúlciter suxísti; praesta auxílium grátiae tuae, ut intercedénte Beata Vírgine María Matre tua et Beato Bartholomaéo apóstolo tuo dilécto ( or else et Sancto Ráphael tuo Archángelo), ab omni peste et improvísa morte secúre liberémur, et a totíus perditiónis incúrsu misericórditer salvémur. Per te, Iesu Christe Rex glóriae, qui vivis et regnas in saécula saeculórum. Amen.
ENGLISH:
The star of heaven, she who suckled the Lord, has uprooted the scourge of death which the first parent of mankind planted. That very star is now worthy to encompass the world, whose wars cut down the people with the sore of dreaded death. O glorious star of the sea, save us from the scourge: Hear us, for the son, denying nothing, honors you. Save us, Jesus! For us, the virgin mother entreats you.
?. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
?. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
O God of mercy, God of forbearance, God of forgiveness, who was moved to compassion for the affliction of Your people, and who said to the Angel devastating Your people: Hold your hand for the love of that glorious Star, at whose dearest breast You graciously fed against the poison of our sins; grant the help of Your grace, that as Your Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Bartholomew your beloved Apostle (Saint Raphael, your Archangel), we be safely freed from every disease and from an unprovided death, and that we may be mercifully saved from the assault of utter ruin. Though You, Christ Jesus, King of Glory, who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.
For our readers in Italy: HERE
And…
I’ve been calling for processions using the traditional Rituale Romanum against the present contagion.
Let’s get out there! Take it to the streets!
“Meno chiacchiere… più processioni!… Less chattering … more processions!”
I received notice from Birmingham, Alabama’s Cathedral of St. Paul. They posted about their procession HERE.
This evening we planned and held a rather last-minute Eucharistic procession around our city block with our Fraternus group of men and boys (about 100 total participated). In the old Roman Ritual there is a penitential procession “in time of mortality and epidemic”, which includes a Litany of the Saints with specific petitions, including: “From plague, famine, and war, Lord, deliver us”, and “That you deliver us from the scourge of pestilence, we beg you to hear us.” After completing the prescribed prayers we added a Litany of St. Joseph and concluded with Benediction. It’s interesting to note that one of the saints invoked against plagues is St. Sebastian, who is also patron saint of athletes and a great role model for young men. Fr. Jerabek distributed some St. Sebastian prayer cards that he had gotten at his tomb in Rome on a previous visit. May he, St. Joseph, our Blessed Mother, all the saints, and our Lord Jesus Christ guard us and deliver us from COVID-19 and from every other illness!
God bless the younger clergy and younger Catholics who are open to and even eager for our traditional practices in time of necessity.
In the past I recounted how, outside the hideous Paul VI Audience Hall, during a meeting of the Italian Bishops Conference, an old bishop who had escaped the nonsense within growled something I’ve shared here many times: “Meno chiacchiere… più processioni!… Less chattering … more processions!” He got it right. These popular devotions do us a world of good.
They always have done a world of good, especially in time of disaster, war, famine or disease.
While the Chinese Virus is on, “Kung Flu”, lets get busy with the spiritual weapons at our disposal!
I saw this tweet from Bp. Strickland of Tyler.
I call on every Catholic priest to lead a simple Eucharistic Procession around your Church sometime before the Feast of St Joseph, March 19, for repentance, Christ’s healing hand on the Coronavirus & that all men may be Godly, manly sons & disciples of His Son Jesus Christ.
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) March 11, 2020
Then a friend of mine posted, also on Twitter, a video of a priest near Palermo.
un grande sacerdote che non cessa di essere presente con la sua comunità parrocchiale. Grazie Padre Ricotta pic.twitter.com/6UUaUHEgb4
— Attilio Sacco ?? ?? ???? (@AttilioSacco) March 11, 2020
And…
Another video of Fr Ricotta, the priest from Villabate, Italy.
Throughout history, plagues have been met by Christendom with similar Eucharistic Processions. #CatholicTwitter #coronavirus #Italia #COVID19 #PandemicPreparedness pic.twitter.com/JxqLgW1GgW
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) March 11, 2020
PRACTICAL PART OF THE POST
What to do?
In the Roman Ritual – not the dopey Book of Blessings Happy Thoughts – there are procedures for processions for various needs, such as the averting of storms, to beg for rain, in time of famine, and, which interests us right now,
In time of epidemic and plague.
You use the order of the procession for the Feast of St. Mark.
The procession should begin at the church. The bishop or priest is in violet cope, or at least a surplice and stole, and deacons can be in dalmatics, priests in chasubles, or otherwise surplice. After the initial prayers, the Cross precedes, then the faithful (if any) and the clergy (if any), and the celebrant. The procession can stay inside or go outside. The procession should wind up back in church for the final prayers.
At the last part of the Litany of Saints, the invocation, “From plague, famine, and war. R. Lord, deliver us.” is sung twice. And after “That you grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed,” etc. the following invocation is said twice, “That you deliver us from the scourge of pestilence. R. We beg you to hear us.” And some other prayers follow.
AND…
When the Kung Flu abates, there should be a procession in thanksgiving!
How about it?
I’d like to get notes that priests and bishops are having Eucharist processions.
Here is something good.
Dioceses and conferences of bishops are panicking. “BIG CROWDS SPREAD DISEASE! We have to SHUT DOWN MASSES!”
No. ADD MASSES! The crowd at each will be smaller.
Look at what this Polish bishop suggests.
In connection with the recommendations of the Chief Sanitary Inspector that there should be no large gatherings of people, I ask to increase – as far as possible – the number of Sunday Masses in churches – wrote Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki.https://t.co/ImcIJSyizf pic.twitter.com/09PS8Zz1f0
— Church in Poland (@ChurchInPoland) March 10, 2020
Get it? More Masses, smaller crowds at each Mass. People aren’t packed in. They can spread out over the church.
And there are MORE MASSES!
That’s a good thing, right?
More people can have Mass intentions said.
Bishops… consider asking priests to add a Mass every day, perhaps a votive Mass against the spread of disease. Traditionally, we can use the Missa pro vitanda mortalitate vel tempore pestilientiae and the Mass “Tempore mortalitatis“. Bishops can give permission for votive Masses for grave public reasons.
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Our TLM group shares a church with the NO parish and they have removed holy water from the stoops at the entrance. Apparently our Bishop has instructed this to be done to avoid anything being “shared”. Is this reasonable? I don’t understand the logic behind it.
Some chanceries and parishes are freaking half-way out. Half-way, because they don’t mention the backs of pews or door handles, etc., that people grab.
Remove Holy Water… well, okay.
However, there should still be Holy Water available at church, in a large container. BYOB. Bring your own bottle, fill it, and use it going into church!
Then use it going in and out of your home!
It could be that this virus scare will raise awareness of what Holy Water is for.
As I have written many times, Holy Water is blessed for use by people precisely for health of soul and of body. It’s right there in the traditional blessing of Holy Water. I confine myself to the traditional form, which blessed Holy Water, rather than the newfangled form which probably institutes “happy water”.
Need a bottle? HERE
And…
Part of our family history as Catholics are the Jewish festivals. We don’t observe them today, but the are part of our long-term heritage. The Jewish festivals pointed backward to important events in salvation history and forward to their fulfillment in the Lord’s life and mission.
Purim began yesterday and ends today, 10 March, at sunset.
What is Purim?
Purim celebrates how God, through Esther and her adoptive father Mordechai, saved the Jewish people from the hateful Hamman and the King during the Persian captivity. Purim is not one of those major festivals like Passover or Tabernacles, but it was a time of rejoicing, annually celebrated with traditions.
One of the customs of Purim is to read or sing the whole Book of Esther, which is called “the whole megillah (megillat – scroll)”. Now you know where that phrase comes from. There are several “megillah books”, but Esther is probably the most associated with the word.
During the singing of the whole megillah, when the name of the evil Hamman is pronounced, the people often shout and make noise with noisemakers to blot out his name, a kind of damnatio memoriae. There are some interesting Youtube videos of the singing of Esther that have this blotting out of “Hamman”. For example, HERE, at synagogue in Tampa, they really get into it. Check out about 1:30.
By the way, don’t be puzzled by the seemingly cheerful raucous music that introduce some of these Megillah Esther videos. Purim is a time of serious partying. There is a lot of dressing up in costumes and feasting.
Here is a singing of Esther from the Synagogue in Rome (Hebrew with an Italian accent). Chapter 3 starts at 12:35 or so and right after is a mention of the hated Hamman.
It is probable that when the Lord went up to Jerusalem for a “feast of the Jews” in John 5, and when he healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda, it was Purim.
BTW… you might review the dialogue of the Lord with the man who was for so long by that pool. Given that this pool was outside the walls, where no one dwelt, and the man in theory couldn’t get around on his own, and therefore had to be brought there daily, the Lord’s question: “Do you want to be healed?” takes on a new quality.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on ROME 26/6 – Day 74-75: Last Day: “Eugene: I suppose that it has been the custom in Italy going way back. In fact, in older rites books…”
on ROME 26/6 – Day 74-75: Last Day: “Father why were the Divine Praises sung in Italian and not Latin?”
on ROME 26/6 – Day 76: Brooklyn Bound: “Love that third photo. Beautiful procession! Safe travels to you!”
on ROME 26/5– Day 61: initial notes on the encyclical: “And, I still have not attempted to read it, but Joseph Pearce’s article, “Why Pope Leo Quoted Tolkien’s Gandalf” -…”
on ROME 26/6 – Day 76: Brooklyn Bound: “Father, as you head back to the U.S. — I won’t say “home” because listening to you lately, somehow I…”
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