Daily Rome Shot 1388 – Martyrs of GORKUM!

Posted on 4 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s Amazon Prime TIME. Great deals.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Consider THIS.

Today is the Feast of the Martyrs of Gorkum.  Learn about them.

Meanwhile…

Well said! Rist was one of my professors at the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” in Rome. He contributed essays to a couple of books that Francis didn’t like.

Maybe there’s more to my streamed Masses after all!

Card. Burke received this note from Leo XIV for his 50th anniversary of ordination.

Venerabili Fratri Nostro RAIMUNDO LEONI S.R.E. Cardinali BURKE S. Agathae in Urbe presbytero
aureum ordinationis presbyteralis celebranti iubilaeum Romae uti sacerdoti dioecesis Crossensis receptae, navitatem studiose exercitam gratulamur ac probatam sollicitudinem, quam ad res iuris potissimum vertit et in Apostolicae Sedis Dicasteriorum usu, qui secundum Cor Christi Evangelii praedicavit praecepta eiusque enarravit thesauros, Ecclesiae universae diligenter inserviens. Cui dum optima quaeque ominamur, Apostolicam Nostram Benedictionem, auspicibus beatis Petro et Paulo apostolis, ei eiusque propinquis libentes impertimur.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die XVII mensis Iunii, Anno Sancto MMXX V.

Leo PP. XIV

To Our Venerable Brother RAYMOND LEO Cardinal BURKE of the Holy Roman Church Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of Saint Agatha of the Goths at Rome
As he celebrates the Golden Jubilee of his priestly ordination in Rome, which he received as a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse, we thank him for the prompt service he has zealously carried out and the earnest care he has demonstrated most especially for the law, which has also been of good service to the Dicasteries of the Apostolic See. He has preached the precepts of the Gospel according to the Heart of Christ and has recounted His treasures, diligently offering his devoted service to the Church universal. While anticipating the very best for him, and under the watchful care of blessed Peter and Paul the Apostles, it is our good pleasure to impart our Apostolic Blessing to him and to those near to him.
Given at the Vatican, 17 June, in the Holy Year 2025

Pope Leo XIV

Meanwhile…. chess as ESPORT.  HERE

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
1 Comment

Coincidence…. I think… yeah! Msgr. Bux new BOOK on the leaked bishops survey about Summorum Pontificum.

Posted on 4 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Diane put out the “leaked” report about the bishop’s survey that didn’t go Francis way, so Francis went his own way and issued the stunning failure Taurina cacata… Traditionis custodes.

Last night being somewhat restless, I cruised about on the interwebs and discovered a new book by Msgr. Nicola Bux (“Nicóla Boox”), a superb liturgist who was a consultor for Benedict XVI.  He has several books.  Long-time readers here know him also from the legendary “Bux Protocol“.

Bux has a new book in Italian, as I discovered last night.  Co-authored with Saverio Gaeta, who is very good.

La liturgia non è uno spettacolo: Il questionario ai vescovi sul rito anti-co: arma di distruzione di Messa?

The Liturgy is not a show: the survey of the bishops about the ancient rite: weapon of mass destruction?

US HERE

Chapters…

An introduction which recounts the issuance of T.C.
1 – “The Mass through the centuries” gives a solid history of the development of what happened at the Last Supper (not a “Mass”) through the earliest forms of the Breaking of the Bread and the Eucharist to a more developed liturgy, still very early (c. 155).
2- “The Innovation of Vatican II” – Principles and work of the Consilium.  The real intentions of the Council Fathers.  1969.  Drift.
3- “Pacification, and not only” Summorum Pontificum.  Bad interpretations.
4- “The Secret Consultation” – documentation – the survey – weighing Summorum.
5 – “The Survey in Detail”
6 – The Florilegium of the Dossier” – evaluating the results
7 – “The Final Solution” – the Motu Proprio – due ecclesiological visions – restriction or punishment?
8 – Possibilities – The crisis in the Church and the collapse of liturgy.  Missale of Pius VI never abolished. Reform of the Reform.  Future hypotheses after TC.
Concluding Appeal

This was done fast.  In my edition (kindle) there is not Table of Contents or index.

However, it’s rather like two-step authentication.

I have the Italian KINDLE version.  The physical book is available for pre-order at amazon.it.

Don’t have a kindle?   Go HERE and look around.  So useful for travel.  Also, there are books I want to read, but I don’t want to own.  I am trying to GET RID OF BOOKS!  (I know… it’s sad.)

Also, Amazon PRIME Day is coming up.  There are early deals.  HERE

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, SESSIUNCULA, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill, The future and our choices, Traditionis custodes |
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7 July: CATHOLIC Mass at Canterbury Cathedral for the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Beckett –

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On 7 July there will be a CATHOLIC Mass in the (stolen) Canterbury Cathedral in honor of the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Beckett.

My correspondent alerted me about this along with his comment:

There’s a place to register on the website. It’s so that the cathedral authorities would then decide if the Catholics could be relegated to a side altar (as this usually gets). But it’d be good to show Catholic power by turning up in numbers.

Here’s the link to register:

https://stthomasofcanterbury.com/portfolio-items/translation-of-st-thomas-2025/

From the press release:

WHAT: On 7th July, every year, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral
kindly allow the Catholic Parish of St Thomas of Canterbury to celebrate Mass in honour of St Thomas Becket. This Catholic Mass happens only once a year.
WHY: To mark the Feast of the Translation (transfer) of the relics of St Thomas Becket.
WHO: This year, the Jubilee Year of Hope, for the first time, the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia has kindly accepted the invitation to be the main celebrant at the Feast of the Translation Mass in the presence of dignitaries of Church and State, including the Vatican St Peter’s cricket team, and the ordinary people of God.
The Feast of the Translation Mass will conclude with the blessing of St Thomas Becket’s relics.
The music for the Mass will be directed by Nigel Short and Tenebrae, the internationally acclaimed English choir https://www.tenebrae-choir.com/about/tenebrae
All pilgrims are invited to a reception of English ‘champagne’ and chocolates after Mass.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole |
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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 9: The Vespers of Betrayal

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Continued from Episode 8 – HERE

“That’d be Chester.”

I stood with my back to the warped blinds, one hand in my coat, the other resting on the scuffed back up folder that contained every sorry truth we’d dug up like undertakers exhuming a coffin.  The rain was a steady percussion on the window, tapping out a dirge for the last illusions anybody here still nursed.

Across the room, Bishop McButterpants slouched in his chair like a deflated parade balloon, pink face shiny under the wavering fluorescents. He shifted nervously as he tried to pretend he wasn’t watching the door. He was waiting for more chaos. He was waiting for Chester. His barks getting louder.

Meeks arms folded in defiance, her smile stretched tight and bright as piano wire hiding her clear apprehension.

As the canine bellows crescendo I went to the doors and kicked them open just in time for Chester’s advent. “C’mon in boy!” I shouted but with a razor edge that cut.

Chester came barreling in. Sixty pounds of wiry fur, crooked ears and unsettling speed. His claws skittered on the linoleum as he made for the Bishop with the single-minded purpose of a loan shark or the Bishop himself at the All-You-Can Buffet.

Fr. Gilbert, hair still perfect, gasped in after Chester who was already halfway to the desk.

Time slowed.

With a snarl Chester took out Fr. Hugalot’s mime legs with rush that’d make a left tackle green. Then he raced two circles around the room, nails slashing for a grip on the slippery floor until, skidding sideways, four paws splayed he crashed onto the conference table.

The dog’s jaws parted in a grin no sane creature can muster. He lunged sliding across the long, wide wooden surface, and closed his teeth around the USB drive like it was a chunk of kielbasa.

Plastic cracked. Metal crunched.

“Chester, no!” Gilbert hollered, too late.

The Bishop emitted a noise somewhere between a squeal and a prayer.

Chester stood still for a moment, methodically chewing. He jumped down, tail whipping like a metronome, and planted himself in front of Meeks, contentedly reducing terabytes of incriminating evidence to a mush of doggy slobber and shards.

Meeks straightened, her eyes gleaming. “Well,” she purred, “I suppose that’s that, gentlemen.”

“Not so fast, lady”, I said.

I reached into my coat pocket, slowly and deliberately, and drew out the paper folder containing all that was on the drive. With my other hand I drew out… the duplicate drive.  

Father Tommy reached into his cassock and extracted the recording device he was wearing and took the tiny microphone off the button of his sable soutane.

“No, Patsy!” Tracer said. “It isn’t over by a long shot.”

Chester lifted his head, looking around the at the principles in the room. With a crooked and yet jaunty step, tail wagging in a deformed mobius strip of delight, he trotted up to Meeks,  ears flattening, and threw up on her left shoe. I could have sworn he was smirking.

Meeks exhaled through her nose, the last mask dropping. “You think you’ve won,” she said, voice like a snake uncoiling. “But you haven’t seen the last of me. This diocese—this whole rotten town—it never really changes.”

Her gaze flicked over Tracer and me. “I’ll be seeing you both.”

She turned on her heel and slipped out, the echo of her heels a count-down to whatever fresh hell she was planning.

Gilbert went to Chester with the remnant of his broken leash. The dog resisted for a second, tail wagging in a perverse rhythm. Finally, with a little woof, he acquiesced and was lead out of the room.

McButterpants pulled a handkerchief and wiped his hands, though it would take more than cotton to scour this business off his mind.

The bishop drew the spare drive closer and stared at it like it might sprout fangs. His face was pale, beaded with sweat. “God help us,” he whispered.

I leaned over the desk, close enough that the Bishop had to meet his eyes. “This gets buried the right way, or it all comes up again. Understand?”  I put the spare drive on the table.

The bishop nodded, a jerky little movement. He swallowed. “Thank you, Tracer… Father Tommy”, he managed, though it sounded more like a confession than gratitude.

His gaze drifted past us to some invisible horizon. as though seeing ghosts pressing their judgments through the cracked plaster.

Outside, the wind started up again, keening around the eaves. I could feel the chill settling into my bones, the same way it had the first night we’d followed the trail of betrayals down into Libville’s gut.

I straightened and gestured to the door. I moved to open it.

I paused at the threshold and turned back to the Bishop, voice soft but deadly. “Don’t mistake quiet for safety,” he said. “If she comes back, we’ll be ready.”

We stepped into the hall, Fr. Tommy and me, the door creaking shut behind us. The last thing I heard was the Bishop’s whisper, ragged and low.

Out in the night, the rain had made everything shine like it was wrapped in cellophane, but nothing sparkled in Libville for long. I pulled out my victory cigar. The flame from the lighter danced in the reflection on the wet pavement, a tiny beacon in a city that liked to swallow beacons whole.

Fr. Tommy stood beside me, cassock clinging to his legs in the wind, eyes fixed on the  chancery. Inside, ghosts were still whispering and the libs were still whimpering. We’d done our part for tonight.

We didn’t speak. Some endings don’t need words.

I slid behind the wheel of the Charger and turned the key. The engine growled, low and steady, like a warning.

I nodded to the priest.  “Padre.”

He nodded back. “Tracer.”

Somewhere in the dark, Chester barked.

One case closed, a hundred more waiting.  I gripped the wheel, the Charger rumbling like an omen, and put her into gear.

Who can tell what’ll come next in a town that thrives on secrets and devours the unwary whole?

Libville. A city that chews up your conscience and spits out regrets. Libville. Where a tough case never really stays closed.

Posted in Lighter fare, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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Good videos about the leaked document and what might happen next

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Some good comments in these videos about the leaked report about the survey of bishops. Francis used it to go ahead and do what he wanted and imposed his whim by issuing Taurina cacata…. Traditionis custodes.

I think Robert Royal’s point about JUSTICE is important.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Pay attention to Mark and Gavin.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, Traditionis custodes |
12 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1385 – R.I.P. Fr. Ray Blake

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Welcome Registrants:

Be Not Afraid
BridgetM
Charbel82
FJP

 

Here’s a shot of Fr. Blake when we had lunch at the Criterion (Piccadilly) back in 2008.  I remember that lunch like it was yesterday.

Farewell for now, Father Blake.

Take a few minutes and read this: HERE

“The Catholic Burden in an Age of Infidelity, by Fr. Hansen”

“Fr. Hansen” is a pen name for obvious reasons.  It is, inter alia, an apologia for the SSPX.  Thoughtful points.  The writer is not a priest of the SSPX.   It is also about paying the price in difficult times.

White to move and mate in two. Time yourself. Under 30 seconds?

Meanwhile in Zagreb, Magnus and Wesley are tied for the lead.  Yesterday Magnus defeated Wesley who in turn beat Caruana and Giri.  In Round 4, So with black drew against Saric.  In Round 5, he drew with white against Nordirbek.  Round 6 is underway as I write.

 

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
4 Comments

This is the way.

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Yes, this is the way.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged
5 Comments

The Empire Strikes Back. Vatican SPOX on the “leaked” TLM report

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Diane Montagna published a leaked summary of the responses of bishops who were queried about the TLM.

The kraken was released.

Today there was a presser for the publication of a new Mass formulary for a “Mass for the Care of Creation” which will be added to the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions in the Roman Missal (Novus Ordo, of course).

The Pillar says:

At a July 3 Vatican press conference, Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, the secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, was asked to comment on a document published July 1, which was reported to be an excerpt from the Vatican’s 2021 assessment of a global survey of bishops on the use of preconciliar liturgical rubrics.

When the question was raised, Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See press office, intervened, objecting that the press conference was dedicated to the presentation of the new formulary of the Mass for the Care of Creation, which will be added to the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions in the Roman Missal.

Bruni said subsequently that he wasn’t “confirming the authenticity of the texts that have been published.”

But he immediately added that “it is presumably part of one of the documents on which the decision [to publish Traditionis custodes] was based, and it’s a contribution to a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process.”

[…]

At the press conference, Bruni said: “The consultation that has been mentioned was supported by other documentation and other reserved reports, and subsequent internal consultations received by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith.”

[…]

Uh huh.

Posted in SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, Traditionis custodes, What are they REALLY saying? | Tagged ,
10 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 1384 – Procession

Posted on 2 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The day after the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul is, traditionally, the Commemoration of St. Paul (since Peter gets most of the attention on the 29th).  It is also the Feast of the Protomartyrs of Rome.   It is celebrated by a particular Confraternity which is dedicated to the cult of martyrs and which also foster the Roman Stations during Lent.   There is a Mass at the Teutonic College inside the Vatican next to the Basilica and then a procession in Vatican Gardens.  The Archconfraternity of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini takes part.

Here are a few pics.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Frankly, I think there should be lots of processions with the Blessed Sacrament all around Vatican City, through the Piazza and Basilica, etc., to wash away the filth of Pachamama and all the other things that were going on.   There should be exorcisms as well of all the offices of the Curia.   This would be good for diocesan chanceries, too, and parishes.

Get this!   More information following the revelation of the reportage from Diane.

Wisdom from Card. Zen.

Here’s a small thing. I noticed that, early on Pope Leo had a cassock (technically a simar) with the double sleeves and the little button hole for the hook to sling up the pectoral cross.

I haven’t noticed lately the little pectoral button hole and it seems Leo has chosen not to wear the pectoral that way… yet. I hope he will. It just looks better. However the double sleeves are visible in his recent audiences.

Again, this is a pretty small thing and I don’t want to make that much out of it. It’s just interesting.

You were all waiting for chessy news…

The Grand Chess Tour’s SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025 is underway in Zagreb. Magnus, Fabi, Pragg, “Puer”, Anish Gukesh, Nodirbek, Jan-Krysztof
and, hurray!, my guy Wesley So are at it, 2-6 July. I am rooting, of course, for Wesley. Alas, Magnus beat him with white in their first game. It went into an end game with symetrical pawns but Magnus had the bishop pair and Wesley had a bishop and a knight. The bishop pair proved to be strong. But as one of the older members of my OTB group says, “Anyone can win with white.” Wesley beat Fabi with white.

Black to move and mate in 4. HERE

Please buy beer.  Lot’s of beer.  Do NOT over chill this superb beer.  Just a little.   It is really good.  I took some for a couple of priest friends last week when we did stuff on the grill.  Well received, for sure.  Yum.  Buy lots of beer.  Give it to your priests.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
4 Comments

YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS

Posted on 2 July 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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In your charity would you please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.

You have to be registered here and approved to be able to post.

  • In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave, progressive and incurable.
  • Pray for me, for my circumstances and wisdom in my decisions.
  • Pray for a really good episcopal appointment which could have a massive impact.
Posted in PRAYER REQUEST | Tagged
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