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About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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- The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
Recent Comments
- AMDG on ROME 26/3– Day 20: WOW! JUST TOO COOL!: “this is fantastic. it would be great to get the pre-55 calendar on there as well.”
- AMDG on ASK FATHER: Can the “Dies Irae” be used in the Novus Ordo Requiem Mass? Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “On this, I would say YES you can according to the Ordo Cantus Missae 1970 — on page 155 (of…”
- Crysanthmom on ROME 26/3– Day 21: More on the Six Hour Clock app: “Golly, I needed to hear that message from Fr. McTiegue today! TY”
- Venerator Sti Lot on St. Augustine on military service and prayer in time of war: “Tangentially, I happened recently to encounter this discussion and summary by the Nineteenth-century English historian (and ‘Anglican’ clergyman!) Mandell Creighton:…”
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”- Fulton Sheen
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Fr John Zuhlsdorf
Tridentine Mass Society of Madison
733 Struck St.
PO BOX 44603
Madison, WI 53744-4603
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- “The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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frz AT wdtprs DOT comAs for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
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Recent Posts
- ROME 26/3– Day 22: thanks
- Nope. People know how doctors dress.
- ROME 26/3– Day 21: More on the Six Hour Clock app
- ROME 26/3– Day 20: WOW! JUST TOO COOL!
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Quasimodo Sunday (and “Low” and “Thomas” and “Divine Mercy”)
- ASK FATHER: We can eat meat on Easter Friday, but do we have to do some other penance?
- ROME 26/3– Day 19: Claming up
- Nuns of Gower Abbey have a NEW music disc/download!
- St. Augustine on military service and prayer in time of war
- ROME 26/3– Day 18: Flowers!
- ASK FATHER: Can we eat meat on Friday in the Octave of Easter? (Hint: YES!)
- ROME 26/3– Day 17: Itadakimasu
- ROME 26/3– Day 16: chores
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-04-03 – Aftermath of foot washing
- ROME 26/3– Day 15: foods and views and shoes
- ASK FATHER: Can the “Dies Irae” be used in the Novus Ordo Requiem Mass? Wherein Fr. Z rants.
- ASK FATHER: Grounding for the “harrowing of Hell”
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-03-28 – A bold statement for foot washing
- ROME 26/3– Day 12-13-14: whew (lots of photos)
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Easter Sunday
- PASCHALCAzT 2026 – 47: Easter Sunday – Joy
- “He descended into Hell” – Notes on “The Harrowing of Hell”
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 46: Holy Saturday – The last indignity – UPDATED
- ROME 26/3– Day 11: Good Friday
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-04-01 – A scare
- 3 April: Feast of St. Richard of Chichester. A comment about science.
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 45: Good Friday – Christ and our moral suffering
- ROME 26/3– Day 10: Thursday in Holy Week
- ASK FATHER: 9 1st Fridays but how do Good Friday (April 3) and St. Joseph (May 1) impact that?
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 44: Holy Thursday – Why we eat the victim
Let us pray…
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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Tag Archives: communion rail
Brick By Brick! Altar rail restored at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy
A good bit of news HERE. WATCH the blessing of the new altar rail during Mass on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. ET. The Communion rail was restored to the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA. It is staffed by the … Read More
Look at these poor backwardists
Look at these poor backwardists, kneeling to receive Communion. Don’t they understand that there would be bishops in these USA who know better?!? At least there’s no terrible Communion rail! This miniature comes from a Book of Hours commissioned by … Read More
Another vain attempt to impose Novus Ordo lockstep unity on the faithful: Archdiocese of Seattle
It is at least ill-advised to attempt the same thing again and again and again with unvarying poor results, and yet keep on the poorly chosen course. Yet another discouraging example of episcopal over-reach, in the interest in trying to … Read More
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Reflections on the symbolism of the altar rail or Communion rail and some practical suggestions
At Crisis Austin Ruse has a thoughtful piece about altar rails. He writes: […] It seems to me that among the most harmful innovations that happened in the Church at mid-century was doing away with the altar rail and caving … Read More
Brick by brick in @archstl – a lesson in commonsense, prayer and elbow grease
There are entirely understandable reasons why not every church can be grand and beautiful. For example, sometimes a church is needed quickly and the means are slim. In many cases, however, a little creativity and a touch more patience – … Read More
ASK FATHER: Ordinary Form Mass with a Communion rail?
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I’ll ask the question up front: Is it illicit to celebrate the Ordinary Form while using a communion rail? If not, would use of a rail while celebrating the OF preclude reception of Communion in the … Read More
BRICK BY BRICK: A Communion rail restored in a major, historic church
I just received something interesting from a reader in Chicago, for your Brick By Brick file. Perhaps you have at some time driven down the Kennedy Expressway. Suddenly the Interstate bends sharply around, and very close to, the rectory of … Read More
Brick by Brick – Houseling cloths installed!
Do you recall that I asked for help to determine a good way to attach houseling cloths on a Communion rail? HERE Many of you came through. By the way “housel” is a Middle and Old English word for “Eucharist”. … Read More





















