Crash Courses in Traditional Catholic Philosophy

From Patrick McCloskey of the International Society of Scholastics comes the following announcement:

The professors of the International Society of Scholastics are pleased to present Saturday morning online Crash Courses in traditional Catholic philosophy—part of our Sapientis Online Education program. These are 3-hour seminars on some of the most important scientific, ethical, and political questions of the day—all examined from the common sense perspective of Thomas Aquinas and the Thomistic tradition—including a philosophic defense of the Traditional Latin Mass.

We’re hoping to give you the chance to inherit the intellectual patrimony of the Church; and the foundation needed to defend her ethical, political, scientific principles by reason alone. Take a look at the topics:

January 16^th, 2010 - What is the State and Why Should I Care? On the origin and nature of civil society

January 23^rd, 2010 - Democracy or Tyranny? The legitimate and illegitimate forms of government

January 30^th, 2010 - How Far Can the Government Go? On the limits of civil authority

February 6^th, 2010 - Conservatives are Liberals? Classical liberalism and the corruption of the modern state

February 13^th, 2010 - Is Capitalism evil?

February 20^th, 2010 - What is Socialism?

February 27^th, 2010 - What is the Natural Law and How Do I Defend It?

March 6^th, 2010 - What is Education? A guide for homeschool parents

March 13^th, 2010 - What is a Just War? And What Can’t You Do in One?

March 20^th, 2010 - The Natural Superiority of Traditional Worship

March 27^th, 2010 - Thumbscrews and Guillotines: on the morality of torture and the death penalty

April 17^th, 2010 - Is Brain Death Really Death?

April 24^th, 2010 - Is There Such a Thing as a ‘Right to Privacy’?

May 8^th, 2010 - What is Culture and How Does I Gets Me Some?

May 15^th, 2010 – Why Homosexual Marriage is a Contradiction in Terms

May 22^nd, 2010 - The Moral and Immoral Roles of Insurance Companies

June 5^th, 2010 - Is Rebellion Ever Justified?

June 12^th, 2010 - Homeschooling: The rights of parents in regard to education

June 19^th, 2010 - The Devil Made Me Do it: on cooperation in evil

June 26^th, 2010 - Fundamental Issues in Bioethics

Fuller descriptions can be found on our website www.societyofscholastics.org/sapientis Just click on ‘Crash Course.’ New topics with special guest lecturers will be added periodically throughout the spring semester.

All Crash Courses are hosted live, online using our state-of-the-art video conferencing software, giving you the chance to interact with the professor and other students by voice chat and/or instant text messaging. Sapientis supports PCs, Macs, and smartphones like Blackberries and iPhones—so you can logon from almost anywhere, while waiting at the airport or sipping cappuccino at the local coffee shop.

Online seating is limited, so sign up early!

Why Thomistic philosophy? Here’s an argument from authority:

“And so we have desired that all who are engaged in the task of teaching philosophy and sacred theology be warned that they cannot depart from Aquinas in the slightest degree, especially in metaphysics, without great harm resulting therefrom...and if the doctrine of any other writer or saint was ever approved by Ourselves or Our predecessors with singular praise and the invitation or command to spread and to defend it were added to that commendation, it must be clearly understood that that doctrine is approved to the extent that it agreed with the principles of Aquinas or at least in no way contradicted them.” (Pope St. Pius X)

The International Society of Scholastics is an intellectual association founded in 2005 by students of the Roman Pontifical Universities. The ISS is committed to restoring the philosophic doctrines, didactic principles and scientific synthesis of the greatest masters of the classical universities, the Scholastics. We now have several hundred members representing 19 countries.

We hold Thomas Aquinas to be the paradigm of Scholastic scholars, and we apply ourselves to renewing the great tradition of Thomistic science forged by his Commentators throughout the centuries.

It is our purpose to reestablish the Scholastic synthesis in all speculative and practical fields as offering the normative model for rational inquiry and practical activity resulting in personal perfection, economic stability, and political faultlessness.

Sapientis is our online course of studies in science and ethics based entirely on the common sense principles of Scholastic Thomism. Its goal is to lead students to a complete understanding of the natural and artificial orders in the universe and of their moral duties resulting from this order. We aim to make Scholastic Thomism available in its classical, unadulterated form; educational materials which follow not only the content of Thomism, but its structure as well.

For more info, visit our website at www.SocietyofScholastics.org or send us an email at TheSchoolmen@SocietyofScholastics.org

Modifications to the CIC:appropriate distinction between diaconate and higher ministries;other modifications regarding marriage

VATICAN CITY, 15 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Made public today was Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio, "Omnium in mentem" [in Italian]. The document is dated 26 October 2009 and contains two variations to the Code of Canon Law (CIC), variations which have long been the object of study by dicasteries of the Roman Curia and by national episcopal conferences.

The document published today contains five articles modifying canons 1008, 1009, 1086, 1117 and 1124. According to an explanatory note by Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, these variations "concern two separate questions: adapting the text of the canons that define the ministerial function of deacons to the relative text in the Catechism of the Catholic church (1581), and suppressing a subordinate clause in three canons concerning marriage, which experience has shown to be inappropriate".

The variation to the text of canon 1008 will now limit itself to affirming that "those who receive the Sacrament of Orders are destined to serve the People of God with a new and specific title", while canon 1009 "will be given an additional third paragraph in which it is specified that the minister constituted into the Order of the episcopate or the priesthood receives the mission and power to act in the person of Christ the Head, while deacons receive the faculty to serve the People of God in the diaconates of the liturgy, of the Word and of charity".

Archbishop Coccopalmerio's note then goes on to explain that the other changes contained in the Motu Proprio all concern the elimination of the clause "actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia Catholica" contained in canons 1086 para. 1, 1117 and 1124. This clause, "following much study, was held to be unnecessary and inappropriate", he writes.

"From the time the Code of Canon Law came into effect in the year 1983 until the moment of the coming into effect of this Motu Proprio, Catholics who had abandoned the Catholic Church by means of a formal act were not obliged to follow the canonical form of celebration for the validity of marriage (canon 1117), nor were they bound by the impediment concerning marriage to the non- baptised (canon 1086 para. 1), nor did they suffer the prohibition on marrying non-Catholic Christians (canon 1124). The abovementioned clause contained in these three canons represented an exception ... to another more general norm of ecclesiastical legislation according to which all those baptised in the Catholic Church or received into her are bound to observe ecclesiastical laws (canon 11).

"With the coming into effect of the new Motu Proprio", Archbishop Coccopalmerio adds, "canon 11 of the Code of Canon Law reacquires its full force as concerns the contents of the canons thus modified, even in cases were there has been a formal abandonment. Hence, in order to regularise any unions that may have been made in the non-observance of these rules it will be necessary to have recourse, if possible, to the ordinary means Canon Law offers for such cases: dispensation from the impediment, sanation, etc".

Recess till end of December; relevant news may be posted at any moment.

Bishop Schneider continues his worldwide pilgrimagein defense of Traditional Communion

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, ORC, in Estonia

Bishop Athanasius Schneider visited Estonia December 10, 2009, for the publication of his book Dominus est in Estonian. After the presentation, Bishop Schneider celebrated a Missa Cantata in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

In the book presentation the Bishop explained how the present form of hand communion has nothing to do with the practise of hand communion in the early centuries. The new way was adapted by some liberal priests in Holland directly from the Calvinists in 1965.

The Bishop ultimately decided to write a book defending the traditional way of receiving Holy Communion, and when the work was finished he gave a manuscript to the Holy Father. The Pope wrote back to the Bishop praising the work and his accuracy of knowledge of the patristics.

Bishop Schneider told he had also asked the Pope to stop distributing Communion in the hand in Papal Masses, and even if the Pope's answer was supportive it was not certain that it would happen. But since only a few months later, all communicants have been asked to receive Holy Communion from the Pope only kneeling and on the tongue. A true miracle, says Bishop Schneider.

________________
From our friends in the Baltic (Blog Summorum); recess continues until mid-December.

A Documentary on the Seminary of Frejus-Toulon

From the website of the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon:

TIEMPO DE ORACIÓN

The abortion lobby, led by the United Nations, the European Union, and by American and European Foundations, is fighting with all of its diabolical strength to institute abortion on demand in Latin America, the second Land of Mary, Tierra de María.

Every single day, from Colombia to Uruguay, from Nicaragua to Brazil, from Peru to Mexico, more efforts of the diabolical forces are revealed. As it happened in the United States and in Canada, since they cannot prevail through the legislatures and since popular opinion soundly rejects this barbarous practice, they try to force the genocide of the unborn through stealth measures: court rulings (as it happened in America and Canada), "morning-after pills" dispensed as contraceptives, and through ambiguous "health measures" to protect "women's health".

If it is possible, add a prayer to your daily schedule so that the culture of death and of hatred of the unborn shall not prevail in Latin America.

____________________________________

AVE MARIA,
GRATIA PLENA,
DOMINUS TECUM.
BENEDICTA TU IN MULIERIBUS
ET BENEDICTUS FRUCTUS
VENTRIS TUI,
IESUS.
SANCTA MARIA,
MATER DEI,
ORA PRO NOBIS
PECCATORIBUS,
NUNC ET IN HORA
MORTIS NOSTRÆ.
AMEN.

____________________________________

Sancte Michaël Archangele,

defende nos in prælio.
Contra nequitiam
et insidias diaboli
esto præsidium.
Imperet illi Deus,
supplices deprecamur.
Tuque, princeps militiæ caelestis,
Satanam aliosque
spiritus malignos,
qui ad perditionem animarum
pervagantur in mundo,
divina virtute in
infernum detrude.
Amen.

______________________
Recess continues for several days; rare updates in the following week.

Requiem for a Warrior for the Mass of Ages

It is with sadness that we report the death of the Rt. Rev. Tullio Andreatta, K.C.H.S. Monsignor Andreatta died on December 1, 2009, at San Diego. He was 95 years old. Born in Crespano Del Grappa, Italy, near Venice, he was ordained a priest on June 29, 1938. Nine months later he arrived in the United States beginning ten years of service at various Italian parishes across the country. He arrived in the Diocese of San Diego on December 3, 1949 and was assigned to serve as the Assistant Pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Bernardino. In 1951, at the direction of Bishop Buddy, he established a new parish in San Bernardino which he named Our Lady of Fatima. Other pastoral assignments included Blessed Sacrament Church (now Our Lady of Light) in Descanso, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Arrowhead. In 1978, he was invested as a Prelate of Honor of the Pope on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of his ordination. On October 30, 1983, he was invested in the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem as a Knight Commander in recognition of his devoted service to Holy Mother Church

Following Pope John Paul II's 1984 authorization allowing the public celebration of the Tridentine Lain Mass, Monsignor Andreatta was the first priest in the United States to obtain permission from a diocesan bishop to do so. Following his appointment as chaplain, beginning on February 24, 1985, the Tridentine Latin Mass was offered by Monsignor Andreatta at St. Vincent de Paul Church in central San Diego. Due to the objections of several of the clergy the Tridentine Latin Mass was soon moved to Holy Cross Cemetery Mausoleum Chapel where it was offered every Sunday and Holyday without exception by Monsignor Andreatta until his retirement in 1991.

It was Monsignor Andreatta's hope and prayer that a parish church be provided where his beloved Mass could be offered and the other sacraments provided. Thanks be to God, he lived to see the day when, on October 7, 2008, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a personal parish was erected for the Traditional Latin Mass apostolate at St. Anne Catholic Church.

Monsignor Andreatta will be laid to rest on Saturday, December 12, 2009, following a Solemn Requiem High Mass which will be offered at The Immaculata where Monsignor Andreatta celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood. The Rosary will be prayed at 9:45 a.m. PST followed by Mass at 10:00 a.m. PST. The procession to Holy Cross Cemetery will depart at 1:00 p.m.

By Mr. Carl Horst (originally posted on CTNGreg and edited for reposting on RC.)

You report -- Daily Lauds with the laity in Sacramento

Tish Gallagher of the Traditional Latin Mass community of Sacramento has sent the following, very encouraging story about daily Lauds and the frequent chanting of other parts of the Divine Office in her parish:

The Latin Mass community of Sacramento, California began more than twenty years ago. In 1997 the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter was invited into our diocese to serve what was then known as the Ecclesia Dei Community. In 2002 a property was purchased and given by our diocese for our use; this included a church and small school. At the time, Fr. John Berg, FSSP (now the superior general of that congregation) was the priest in charge of our Latin Mass community. In the approximately five years that Fr. Berg was with us, he tried to give our parish, St. Stephen, the First Martyr (not formally a parish yet) a character and tradition which he hoped we would maintain. Among these traditions were things such as Sunday Vespers, the Rorate Mass in Advent, and Tenebrae. Happily, the priests who have come after him have kept these traditions, and even added to them.

Even at this time in the early morning the priest would sing Lauds together in the sanctuary of our church. I would silently pray from a breviary with the Pius XII Psalter, which of course was not the same. Occasionally we would also have Compline, especially after big feasts and after evening adult education classes. We would print out the Latin so that everyone could sing; it was a very prayerful and joyful time!

Now, we are blessed to have many resources for the words of the Divine Office so consequently people are beginning to download the Office from the internet and bring it with them to St. Stephens. What began as community prayer among the priests is becoming more of prayer also for the laity. We very gingerly attempt to pronounce the words of the psalms along with the priests each morning at lauds and as each day passes we learn more, and more people seem to come.

We also have an opportunity on Monday and Thursday each week for the office of Sext. After our priests teach their Latin classes they come into the church to sing this hour together. In addition to this we regularly have Thursday evening Compline which is very well attended after evening Mass.

The Divine Office is very much a part of our Catholic culture at St. Stephens. Most of our children have some opportunity for learning some of the Psalms either in choir or even at our summer camps where Compline is sung each evening.

St. Stephen is a little bit of heaven on earth. It is a place where the Church is living and growing. It is a place where in the midst of all the trials of this world you can find peace.

Manila's Grand Marian Procession in honor of the Immaculate Conception

Every first Sunday of December, the old city of Manila witnesses the Philippines' greatest Marian procession, the "Grand Marian Procession" in honor of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Philippines. It is a rare moment of liturgical splendor in what is otherwise a terrible liturgical desert, featuring blue copes and tunicled acolytes (remnants of the liturgical privileges that the Hispanic colonies had) and dozens of statues and paintings of the Blessed Virgin, from the most famous to the most obscure (such as the Our Lady of the Dormition). This year's procession had 80 statues.

The Immaculate Conception

Relics

Where is the procession?

Tunicled acolytes

Tunicled acolyte

Incensation of an image of the Virgin. (Take note of the blue cope.)

Incensation of Our Lady of the Rosary

Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan of Tuguegarao with tunicled acolytes

Nuestra Senora de la Anunciacion

Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza

Nuestra Senora de la Dormicion

Divina Pastora

More pictures can be found here.

For this year, incredibly enough, many of the acolytes (including some of those who assisted the archbishop and the rector of the cathedral) were sourced from the corps of TLM servers of the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy, the only church under diocesan auspices in Metro Manila that has a daily Traditional Latin Mass.

On the loss of Latin -- and bringing it back

During the debates of the Second Vatican Council one prelate after another addressed the Fathers of the Council in fluent Latin. That they did so is hardly surprising, for Latin remained the living language of the Roman Catholic Church. What may be surprising, however, is their collective level of fluency. The European prelates in particular displayed in their speeches and lively discussions a near-native mastery of Latin that would have been the envy of Renaissance humanists living five hundred years previously.

***

...if living Latin dies, the consequences for the Church are grave. What is significant about the fact that the Fathers of the Council spoke readily in Latin is that they thought in Latin, which gave them easy access to the length and breadth of the Catholic tradition. The Church’s treasury of writings spanning the centuries is like a large chest in the attic, to which Latin is the key. Unfortunately, we stand in danger of losing the key, for few now live who can actually think in Latin. This is especially true within the Church herself. A sign of this is that even at the Vatican documents are no longer composed in Latin and then translated into vernacular languages but are first thought in the vernacular and then translated into Latin. We are in fact in danger of becoming strangers to our own tradition, for few can read the thoughts of our Catholic tradition in the language in which they were thought.

At this point, a word of clarification about what I mean by “reading” is in order.There are many young persons, a good number of them Catholic, studying Latin. Indeed, if we are to believe the New York Times, we are in the midst of a Latin-learning renaissance of sorts. Nevertheless, there is a world of difference between studying Latin and actually learning Latin. Folks today study Latin, but rarely learn it. A short while ago, folks studied Latin to learn it. They could read it, write it, speak it, and generally think in it as well or nearly as well as they could think in their own native tongue. By “reading Latin” or “thinking in Latin,” therefore, I mean the ability to understand Latin at a pace approaching the native facility of an educated person.

***

Sad to say, however, that tradition has all but passed away. Only a few Latin-speaking prelates remain today, and the number of Catholic priests or other religious working on the original sources of our tradition is now minimal. A few personal anecdotes will serve to illustrate how much things have changed. In the fall of 2007, while staying with the Dominicans at Saulchoir in Paris, I had the chance to speak about the decline of Latin within the Church with the Dominican scholars of the Leonine Commission, whose task it is to make available the best critical editions of St. Thomas. To a man these outstanding scholars and Latinists lamented the passing away of the Church’s Latin tradition and urged me to do whatever I could to make available to priests and other religious the resources for mastering Latin that had once been routinely available. Last summer I had dinner with Monsieur Luc Jocques, head of the Latin Section of Corpus Christianorum, the modern project whose aim is to make available modern, critical editions of the vast body of Christian literature produced down through the centuries that still survives in libraries all over the world in manuscripts, unedited and unstudied. Monsieur Jocques told me that when he started at Corpus Christianorum, the roster of scholars working on Latin critical editions was filled with Catholic priests and religious, but that now he can think of only one or two among the army of scholars working worldwide on such projects. In short, the Church itself can no longer take for granted the fluency in Latin that was until recently seemingly its birthright.

I have put off until now answering an obvious question, namely, why does all this matter? Just as the academy and the educated world outgrew Latin, why not allow the Church to do the same? I respond that, even if, Deo gratias, the Church should encompass the globe and become literally catholic in language and culture, and even if, Deus vetet, the Catholic Church in Europe should wither on the vine, it would still be true that the vast majority of Roman Catholic culture and tradition grew up and was formed speaking Latin. It is, as it were, the native language of the Roman Catholic Church, and were we to let it die we would in fact suffer the loss of our mother tongue. We would have access to our patrimony, that wonder-filled treasury that now lays unseen in the Church’s attic, only in bits and pieces and then only in translation. We would become foreigners to our own tradition, to our own thoughts. This is a potentially grievous loss for a Church that holds Tradition sacred. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have recently reminded us that the Church needs Latin for this very reason.

Do read the rest of the article: Bringing back Latin, by Mark J. Clark, from the December 2009 edition of Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

This essay reminds me of the fact that the most recent Latin edition of the Missal of Paul VI had quite a number of grammatical errors. (See this and this).

News from the FSSP Parish in Rome

According to the official website of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, Franc Cardinal Rode, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will offer Solemn Pontifical Mass today, December 8, at 10:30 A.M. in the said parish.

Only last week, on December 5, Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation according to the traditional rite in the same parish. A gallery of photos of the event can be found here.

(H/t for the picture to Una Voce Carmel)

Tota Pulchra es

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence, they must tell us, in the most precise and essential manner, who she really is.

Since human words are incapable of expressing Divine realities, it follows that these words, "Immaculate" and "Conception", must be understood in a much more profound, much more beautiful and sublime meaning than usual: a meaning beyond that which human reason at its most penetrating commonly gives to them.

...

Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?

Not God, of course, because He has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam's rib. Not the Incarnate Word, Who exists before all ages, and of Whom we should use the word "conceived" rather than "conception."

Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created "conceptions." But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by Original Sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate, Conception.

Everything which exists, outside of God Himself, since it is from God and depends on Him in every way, bears within itself some semblance to its Creator; there is nothing in any creature which does not betray this resemblance, because every created thing is an effect of the Primal Cause.

...

Who is the Father? What is His personal life like? It consists in begetting, eternally, because He begets His Son from the beginning and forever.

Who is the Son? He is the Begotten-One, because from the beginning, and for all eternity, He is begotten by the Father.

And Who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of what is created is a created conception, then the fruit of Divine love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a Divine "conception." The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the "uncreated, eternal conception," the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.

The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the "conception" that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the Three Persons by which They can be distinguished from one another. But They are united in the Oneness of Their Nature, of Their Divine existence. The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy "conception," this infinitely holy Immaculate Conception.

...

The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God Himself, was the Immaculata, who never contacted the slightest stain of sin, who never departed in the least from God's will. United to the Holy Spirit as His spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than can be predicated of any other creature.

What sort of Union is this? It is above all an interior union, a union of her essence with the "essence" of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her; lives in her. This was true from the first instance of her existence. It was always true and it will always be true.

And in what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He Himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves Himself, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. She is a fruitful Love, a "Conception." Among creatures made in God's image, the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful, from the very first instance of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity.

This eternal "Immaculate Conception" [the Holy Spirit] produces in an immaculate manner Divine life itself in the womb or depths of Mary's soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary's body is kept sacred for Him; there He conceives in time the human life of the Man-God.

... [S]he, the Immaculata, grafted into the Love of the Blessed Trinity, becomes, from the first moment of her existence and forever afterwards, the "complement of the Blessed Trinity." In the Holy Spirit's union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings... . ... in this union, Heaven and Earth are joined; all of Heaven with the Earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

_______________________________________

Our traditional post on the Immaculata.
Recess for several days; updates will probably be scarce till mid-December.

Rest in peace, Latin American liberation theology

The Church has always been solidary towards the University, and towards its vocation of leading man to the highest levels of knowledge of truth and the reality of the world in all its aspects. It pleases me to recognize here, with the most lively ecclesial gratitude, the various religious congregations which have founded and maintain in your midst renowned universities, reminding them, however, that they are not a property of those who founded them or of those who go to them, but an expression of the Church and of her patrimony of faith.

In this sense, dear Brothers, it is worthy to recall that last August marked 25 years of the Instruction Libertatis nuntius of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on certain aspects of liberation theology, which underlined the danger that was included in the non-critical import, made by some theologians, of theses and methodologies originating from Marxism. Their more or less visible consequences, of rebellion, division, dissent, offense, anarchy are still being felt, creating amidst your diocesan communities great pain and a grave loss of living strength. I beg all those who feel in any way attracted, involved, or touched in their very selves by certain deceitful principles of liberation theology to once again read the aforementioned Instruction, receiving the benign light that the same offers with extended hands; to all I recall that "the supreme rule of [the Church's] faith derives from the unity which the Spirit has created between Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church in a reciprocity which means that none of the three can survive without the others" (John Paul II, Enc. Fides et ratio, 55). May the forgiveness offered and accepted in the name and for love of the Most Holy Trinity, whom we worship in our hearts, in your ecclesial communities and organizations, put an end to the tribulation of the dear Church that wanders though the Land of the Holy Cross [Brazil].

Benedict XVI

Address to the Bishops of Brazil (South 3 and South 4 Regions)

December 5, 2009

Notice Board

From our friends at The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales:

LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham.

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS) is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham, one of England’s most prestigious seminaries.

The conference will run from Monday 12 April to Friday 16 April 2010 (i.e. Low Week) and will feature Traditional liturgies in Ushaw’s magnificent neo-Gothic St Cuthbert’s Chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir.

Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be tuition in Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Missa Solemnis and there will be streams for beginners and more advanced students. There will be a keynote lecture and 1962 Missals and altar cards will be available.

There will be opening and closing High Masses, daily Mass and Devotions, and Rosary. There will also be a closing Conference dinner with guest speaker.

The subsidised fee to participants is only £115.00 which includes all accommodation, meals and training materials. There are limited places and priests are asked to register as soon as possible.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from the LMS office (Tel: 020 7404 7284, e mail: info@latin-mass-society.org) or from the conference organiser, Mr Paul Waddington (Tel: 01757 638027, e mail: paul@gooleboathouse.co.uk).

Paul Waddington said, “This is the second time the LMS has organised such a training conference at Ushaw College and we are delighted to be going back. I hope the laity will tell their priests about this wonderful opportunity to learn the Usus Antiquior in the setting of one of England’s finest Catholic seminaries.”

Moscow Patriarchate publishes a collection of texts by Benedict XVI

Moscow Patriarchate Publishes Book of Pope's Words

Called Proof of Possible Catholic-Orthodox Cooperation

ROME, DEC. 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Russian Orthodox Church has published a book in Italian and Russian with texts from Benedict XVI on the culture of Europe.

This is the first time the Moscow Patriarchate is publishing a compilation of texts from a Pope. It is titled "Europe, Spiritual Homeland," and includes addresses by Joseph Ratzinger during the course of more than a decade.

The presentation of the book will take place Wednesday in Rome during a round table on "The Role of the Churches in the Cultural Integration of Europe."

The volume will be introduced by the chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev.

"This book is an event of unprecedented historic scope in the millennial history of Catholics and Russian Orthodox," explained the editor of the book, Pierluca Azzaro. "But before and above all, it is a great testimony of love of Christ and between Christians. From this love springs -- should spring -- European culture in all its manifold expressions: a living culture, imbued with an authentically creative moral energy, all together geared to the building of a good future for all."

The editor reflected on the way the volume presents the continent.

"Europe -- the Pope, and Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk in the beautiful introduction, tell us -- is a cultural continent that with its two wings, the Church of the East and of the West, rises above the narrow duality Russia-Western Europe," he said. "Europe is thus presented to our eyes as the common 'spiritual homeland,' according to the beautiful expression used by the Pope in his last journey to the Czech Republic."

Azzaro contended that only by jointly rediscovering and reaffirming this "vital dimension of Europe" will a "downward decline" be warded off.

A vice-chairman of the patriarchate's department of external affairs, Hieromonk Philip (Riabykh), said the book is a "testimony of the absolute identity of views and positions between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in regard to modern social processes."

He added that it is "at the same time proof of the enormous possibility of Catholic-Orthodox cooperation."

Solemn Pontifical Mass to be celebrated by Bishopat the Copenhagen Cathedral

Vox clamantis in deserto!

The St. Charles Borromeo Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, is pleased to announce that a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Throne will take place in St. Ansgar's Catholic Cathedral in Copenhagen at 16:30 hrs on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 (the Feast of the Holy Family according to the 1962 calendar).

The Celebrant will be the Bishop of Copenhagen, His Excellency Czeslaw Kozon. He will be assisted by clergy of the diocese and of the FSSP.

This will be the first Solemn Pontifical Mass according to the older liturgical books celebrated in Scandinavia since the liturgical reform of 1969. The event is rendered all the more significant by the fact that it will be celebrated by the Ordinary in his own cathedral.

The past weeks have seen a couple of priests of the Diocese of Copenhagen launch vicious attacks against the Traditional Latin Mass, which Bishop Kozon have publicly refuted. The Latin Mass community in Copenhagen wishes to express its sincerest gratitude to Bishop Kozon for this defence of Catholic liturgical tradition and for his pastoral generosity towards those of his subjects who wish to have their spiritual lives nurtured by this form of the Mass.

At present, the Mass of 1962 is offered twice monthly in the Diocese of Copenhagen, on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month at Jesu Hjerte Kirke (Church of the Sacred Heart) in Copenhagen by priests of the diocese. We kindly ask for prayers for Bishop Kozon, and for the flowering of the liturgical and spiritual life of the Church in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia.

In particular, we encourage all our Catholic friends from Scandinavia to join us for this momentous event and testify to the desire that is present in our societies for the ancient form of Mass.

_______________________________________

Recess for several days; updates will probably be scarce till mid-December.

Bishop Henry, it's not your call

The Bishop of Calgary, Alberta, has just suspended all activities of the Latin Mass communities in Calgary and Medicine Hat due to a pseudo-scientific and anti-Canonical order mandating the non-reception of the Eucharist on the tongue due to concerns related to the transmission of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

We had known about the matter for days, but had waited for some official words from the FSSP priests who serve those communities. However, since the entire matter has now been made public, we post the contents of the e-mail messages related to the affair. (A reader sent the e-mail exchange directly to us, but it was first made available in a web-based forum.)

Are you sick and tired of this kind of clerical abuse? Mail the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, make your protest known, wherever you may live around the world. We too are sick and tired of unwarranted episcopal tyranny, the despotism of those "liberal" or "conservative" bishops who use any excuse to persecute us: they swallow entire "Modern" elephants, yet choke on Latin mosquitoes. Or viruses...

__________________________________

[MESSAGE 1] From: [parvenu74]

Sent: November 30, 2009 10:09 AM

To: bishopfh@rcdiocese-calgary.ab.ca

Subject: Calgary's Saint Anthony Parish: forbidden to have Mass if communion in the hand is not offered?

Dear Bishop Henry,

On the front page of your diocese's website, I see there is a letter in which you are forbidding the distribution of communion on the tongue due to H1N1 concerns. Separately, I have heard that you have forbidden the Parish of Saint Anthony's in Calgary, which is serviced by priests of the Fraternity of Saint Peter, to offer Mass using the Missal of 1962 because that Rite of Mass is incompatible with communion given in the hand.

Is this true?

__________________________________

[MESSAGE 2] From: Bishop F.B. Henry

Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:34 AM

Subject: RE: Calgary's Saint Anthony Parish: forbidden to have Mass if communion in the hand is not offered?

Dear [edited out]

The Fraternity ahs [sic] informed me that they are unable to comply with the directives in my pastoral letter re reception of communion. Therefore, the Latin Mass will be suspended until the temporary sanctions have been lifted as recommended by the Medical Officer of Health.

Peace, Bishop Henry

November 25, 2009

Rev. C. Blust, FSSP

St. Anthony’s Parish

5340 4th St. SW

Calgary, AB, T2V 0Z5

Dear Fr. Blust and My Brothers and Sisters of the Latin Mass Community of St. Anthony’s

The sacraments (and sacramentals – like holy water) are entrusted by Christ to the church which is responsible for determining through regulation the manner of their proper celebration. The bishop is the chief liturgist in the local church or diocese. In the event of a pandemic, we ought to try to reduce the possibility of transmission of a virus and protect the faithful – also the body of Christ. Our current liturgical restrictions in Calgary aim to do precisely that . This is a difficulty for some but we must remember that a Catholic spirituality is not an individual affair but communitarian from the get-go. For the love of our brothers and sisters we have mandated the sacrificing of a personal preference in the manner of Eucharistic reception for a temporary period.

Receiving communion on the tongue is not a dogma of faith. Nor is it an absolute. Since the Eucharistic Celebration is the Paschal Banquet, it is desirable that in keeping with the Lord's command, his Body and Blood should be received by the faithful who are properly disposed as spiritual food. In the Diocese of Calgary, all the faithful may receive communion on the tongue or in the hand - this also applies to the faithful who choose to celebrate the Eucharist with the Latin Mass community at St. Anthony’s, Calgary and St. Patrick’s, Medicine Hat. However, due to the current N1H1 pandemic and in accordance with recommendations received from the Medical Officer of Health, communion on the tongue is temporarily suspended.

I want to be perfectly clear: no one is to be denied the Eucharist, what is at issue is the manner of reception.

Participation in the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is a source and means of grace even apart from the actual reception of Holy Communion. It has also been long understood that when circumstances prevent one from receiving Holy communion during mass, it is possible to make a spiritual communion that is also a source of grace. Spiritual communion means uniting oneself in prayer with Christ’s sacrifice and worshiping him present in his Body and Blood.

Nevertheless, the current pandemic circumstances do not warrant the non-reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord in favour of a spiritual communion. [Emphasis added]

Wishing you all the best, I remain,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+ F. B. Henry

Bishop of Calgary.

__________________________________

[MESSAGE 3] From:[parvenu74]

To: Bishop F.B. Henry

Your excellency,

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), on 24 July 2009, stated that it is not licit to deny reception of communion on the tongue, despite the current threat of H1N1. Attached is a scan of the CDF's letter on this matter.

Through Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,

[parvenu74]

Additional reference: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2009/11/it-is-not-licit-to-deny-communion-on.html [sic]

__________________________________

[MESSAGE 4]

From: Bishop F.B. Henry

Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM

Subject: RE: Calgary's Saint Anthony Parish: forbidden to have Mass if communion in the hand is not offered?

To: [parvenu74]

I am well aware of what the congregation decided but quite frankly, it is not their call. It is mine. [Emphasis added]

Good news: a ban on minarets in Switzerland

From SwissInfo:

Minaret ban approved by 57 per cent of voters

It's official: no more minarets will be built in Switzerland

To the great surprise of pollsters and the regret of the government, the Swiss on Sunday said yes to a ban on the construction of minarets.

According to final results, 57.5 per cent of voters and a majority of cantons backed the initiative.

Good: other European nations should follow the example. While belfries and crosses remain the main structures to rise above houses and buildings in cities and villages throughout the great Continent, there will still be hope for Europe.

Update: Official press release of the Federal Council, the supreme executive authority of the Confederation:

'Yes' to popular initiative against the construction of minarets

Bern, 29.11.2009 - A majority of the Swiss people and the cantons have adopted the popular initiative against the construction of minarets. The Federal Council respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted. The four existing minarets will remain. It will also be possible to continue to construct mosques. Muslims in Switzerland are able to practise their religion alone or in community with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before.

The Federal Council and a clear majority of Parliament came out against the initiative. For the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the outcome of the vote reflects fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies, which reject our national traditions and which could disregard our legal order. "These concerns have to be taken seriously. The Federal Council has always done so and will continue to do so in future. However, the Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies."

The four existing minarets are not affected by the ban. Mosques and Muslim places of worship can continue to be constructed and used. The Justice Minister stated that "Today's popular decision is only directed against the construction of new minarets. It is not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture. Of that the Federal Council gives its assurance." Freedom of religion was and is a key element of Switzerland's successful approach. The dialogue between religious and social groups and the authorities must continue and with fresh resolve. Indispensible prerequisites for an open and constructive debate are respect and openness towards those that hold different views.

40 years of Missale Romanum and the new Roman Rite - II: a Requiem, by Paul VI

On the First Sunday of Advent (November 30), 1969, the New Missal entered into force officially (it would take a few years before it was to be completely phased in worldwide).

In his words in the General Audience which immediately preceded that date, Pope Paul VI was clear:

We may notice that pious persons will be the ones most disturbed, because, having their respectable way of listening to Mass, they will feel distracted from their customary thoughts and forced to follow those of others.

...

Not Latin, but the spoken language, will be the main language of the Mass. To those who know the beauty, the power, the expressive sacrality of Latin, its replacement by the vulgar language is a great sacrifice: we lose the discourse of the Christian centuries, we become almost intruders and desecrators [intrusi e profani] in the literary space of sacred expression, and we will thus lose a great portion of that stupendous and incomparable artistic and spiritual fact that is the Gregorian Chant. We will thus have, indeed, reason for being sad, and almost for feeling lost: with what will we replace this angelic language? It is a sacrifice of inestimable price.

Naturally, elsewhere he mentioned why it was a "necessary" sacrifice, an innovation that was in strict obedience to the Council...

Thank you, dear Lord and most gracious Lady, for Pope Benedict XVI and Summorum Pontificum (after Humanae Vitae, naming Fr. Joseph Ratzinger Archbishop of Munich will one day be seen as one of the most influential and decisive acts of the Montinian pontificate).

It had to be said

Let's get it straight: Irish child abuse was perpetrated by the trendy, modern post-Vatican II Catholic Church

Gerald Warner (Telegraph Blogs)

... A spin is being put on the shocking revelations in the report on abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin [CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT] to implicate the “pre-Conciliar” Catholic Church in the wrongdoings of post-Vatican II pederasts. In the process, the name of a good man has been dragged into the cesspit, for political purposes.

The Most Reverend John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin (1940-1972) was a great Catholic prelate. Under his pastoral leadership, the numbers of clergy and religious increased by more than 50 per cent, he created over 60 new parishes and built over 80 new churches and 350 schools. But he was a Vatican II sceptic who implemented reform conservatively, in accordance with what would now be called the “hermeneutic of continuity”. So he is a bogey figure to radicals.

Most unjustly, his name has been dragged into this scandal. The official Commission’s Report states: “During the period under review, there were four Archbishops – Archbishops McQuaid, Ryan, McNamara and Connell.” Not so. The “period under review” is set out in the Commission’s Terms of Reference as “the period 1 January 1975 to 1 May 2004”. Archbishop McQuaid retired in 1972. The Report very misleadingly claims that by 1987 three Archbishops – McQuaid, Ryan and McNamara – had between them complaints against 17 priests.

But only one of them, the anonymous “Father Edmondus”, was suspect during McQuaid’s watch and even the report concedes that, of the 320 complaints relating to those priests, only three dated back to the McQuaid era, presumably against “Father Edmondus” and in a period prior to that covered by the Commission’s Terms of Reference. On the basis of that isolated allegation they attempt to align Archbishop McQuaid with his negligent successors.

Revealingly, the Report says: “As is shown in Chapter 4, canon law appears to have fallen into disuse and disrespect during the mid 20th century.” Yes; and we all know why – the post-Vatican II anarchic denunciations of “legalism”, of “oppressive” sexual morality and Church teaching generally, promoted by the modernists. As regards implementing canon law against abusers, the Report concedes that Archbishop McQuaid “set the processes in motion but did not complete them [difficult to do when you are dead]. Archbishops Ryan and McNamara do not seem to have ever applied the canon law.”

Well, who ever did, in the trendy, let-it-all-hang-out 1970s and 1980s? The image that has sedulously been propagated is of Irish child abuse perpetrated by priests in soutanes and birettas, cowled monks muttering Latin incantations and nuns in starched wimples and mediaeval habits.

On the contrary, the nightmare orgy of relentless mortal sin recorded in this report was committed by modern priests, with a strip of white celluloid in place of a Roman collar – if they deigned to wear clerical dress – devastating their church sanctuaries as badly as they devastated childrem’s lives, abolishing all the devotions such as Benediction, the Rosary, regular confession, devotion to saints, etc that had sustained Irish faith for centuries. One priest admitted to abusing over 100 children. For that he was indulged; but if he had celebrated the Latin Tridentine Mass his feet would not have touched the ground.

The BBC (to turn to light relief) has exploited this scandal in a style that vindicates its claim to have succeeded Pravda as the leading disseminator of disinformation. A radical priest was produced on Radio 4 to testify that an excessively strict code of sexual morality in the Church was to blame: one shudders to think what excesses would have been committed if the code had been more lax.

Was clerical celibacy the problem? prompted a BBC interviewer. Of course it was. We all know that what a priestly abuser of boys (and this is mainly a homosexual scandal – the Report records a ratio of 2.3 boy victims to 1 girl) needs is a wife – ask any of the Anglican vicars who have provided a living to the red-top tabloids for generations.

Let us set the record straight. This filthy abomination was a scandal of the post-Vatican II, open-windows, relevant, touchy-feely (often, it seems, inappropriately so) Catholic Church. So let the ecumaniacs, the liturgical animators, the Easter People take ownership of it and desist from blackening the reputation of a decent prelate and, by implication, of the unchanging Church that sustained Ireland through centuries of oppression.

Notice Board

1. The International Federation Una Voce held its XIX General Assembly in Rome on 14/15 November. Since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum the pace of interest in the work of the Federation has increased quite noticeably. This year FIUV enrolled six new members; with most interest coming from Latin America. The Federation posted a report on its website.

2. San Francisco: on 13 December 2009, at 5:30 P.M., Fr. William Young will say the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Finn Barr Church. This is the second sunday of December. This may be the first Traditional Latin Mass at St. Finn Barr since the advent of the New Missal. This mass is public, with approval of the pastor. The address is 415 Edna St., San Francisco, CA 94112. Phone number of the rectory: (415) 333-3627. Fr. Young's phone number: (415) 863-6259 ext. 15.

3. After the Breviarium Romanum, Nova et Vetera has now published a new work for liturgical use: a Lectionarium of the Traditional Roman Rite.

Further TAC developments

Those who are following developments regarding the Traditional Anglican Communion's response to the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus will find the following of interest. It is an excerpt from a recent pastoral letter (dated Sunday, 22 Nov. 2009) of Archbishop Louis W. Falk, former Primate of the TAC, and former metropolitan of the U.S.A. for the Anglican Church in America, which is the U.S.A. TAC body. Archbishop Falk is the TAC's founding primate, and currently is President of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America. The excerpt follows:

". . . . An initial set of Complementary Norms has been issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which will be discussed in detail by representatives of that body and of the TAC College of Bishops within the near future. We are now asking members of the ACA (and other TAC provinces) to study the Norms and then pose such questions as may occur. (Some already have, such as: Question: Will we be able to continue to have married priests indefinitely? Answer: Yes. Question: Will those of us who were formerly Roman Catholics be excluded from the Anglican Ordinariates? Answer: No. Question: Will we lose control over our Church finances and property? Answer: No.) There will be more. These can be sent to your own Bishop, and he will see that they get to the appropriate TAC representatives. Your concerns, as well as your thoughts and prayers, are an essential element and a vital part of this process. . . . "

Our thanks to Mr. Peter Karl T. Perkins for bringing this to our attention.

The beatification of Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas in Nazareth

From the website of the Franciscan Custody in the Holy Land:

The complete beatification ceremony of Sr. Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas in the Church of the Annunciation in Nazarene on November 22, 2009. Blessed Marie-Alphonsine is the foundress of the all-Arab Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Jerusalem.

Beatification Mass of Sr. M. Alphonsine Ghattas (Part 1) from custodia'videos on Vimeo.

Beatification Mass of Sr. Alphonsine Ghattas (Part 2) from custodia'videos on Vimeo.

Beatification Mass of Sr. Alphonsine Ghattas (Part 3) from custodia'videos on Vimeo.

It is not licit to deny communion on the tongue due to H1N1

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments responded to a lay Catholic in Britain, in a diocese in which communion on the tongue had been restricted due to concerns related to the Influenza A virus, subtype H1N1 ("Swine flu") epidemic.

It does not make any scientific sense, either, as it is better when there is just one hand involved (that of the Priest). It would seem that it would be safer to have just one man distributing Holy Communion (the Priest), no "Extraordinary ministers" of any kind, and to have all faithful receive Communion in the traditional way.

Source: Rorate Reader

In case anyone hasn't read this yet...

Read the story here.

Sancta Catharina, ora pro nobis

Ordinary:

Official presentation of the New Roman Calendar by Father Pierre Jounel, professor of the Superior Institute of Liturgy at the Catholic Institute of Paris and one of the most active contributors to the post-Conciliar liturgical reform (Rome, Holy See Press Office, press conference, May 9, 1969):

... The revision of the list of saints inscribed in the general calendar of the Roman Church proceeds from the general principles just presented.

First, the list of saints commemorated before underwent a thorough historical investigation. Certain saints may be popular, due to legends created around their names, without one being able to ensure that they even existed, as Saint Christopher, Saint Barbara, Saint Catherine of Alexandria*. They were suppressed from the general calendar: the Christian people cannot be invited to a general prayer if not in truth. ...

_____________________________

Extraordinary:

Deus qui dedisti legem Moysi in summitate montis Sinai, et in eodem loco per sanctos Angelos tuos corpus beatæ Catharinæ Virginis et Martyris tuæ mirabiliter collocasti: præsta, quæsumus; ut, eius meritis et intercessione ad montem qui Christus est, perveníre valeamus. Qui tecum... (Collect for the Feast of Saint Catherine, Virgin and Martyr - November 25, Missale Romanum, 1962: "O God, Who didst give the law to Moses on the summit of Mt. Sinai and by means of Thy holy angels didst miraculously place there the body of blessed Catherine, Thy virgin and martyr, grant we beseech Thee, that, by her merits and intercession, we may be able to come unto the mountain which is Christ.Who with Thee...")

____________________

*The great martyr Saint Catherine of Alexandria would later be squeezed in as an "Optional memorial" of the Universal Calendar in the Third Typical Edition of the New Roman Missal, 2002. [Does she really exist now? What about the "thorough historical investigation"?]

- Recess continues for several days; relevant news may be posted at any moment.

The Pope

Uh... no, wait, wrong picture.

Mr. Weigel's recent note on the Holy See-SSPX dialogue is just so authoritative and peremptory that one could be forgiven for believing that the man speaks for Peter.

_________________

Recess continues for several days; relevant news may be posted at any moment.

Unchanging Faith

Brethren, We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and long suffering with joy; giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through the His Blood, the remission of sins. (Epistle for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, Col. i, 9-14)

I and Francis Mancias are now living amongst the Christians of Comorin. They are very numerous, and increase largely every day. When I first came, I asked them if they knew anything about our Lord Jesus Christ; but when I came to the points of faith in detail and asked them what they thought of them, and what more they believed now than when they were Infidels, they only replied that they were Christians, but that as they are ignorant of Portuguese, they know nothing of the precepts and mysteries of our holy religion. We could not understand one another, as I spoke Castilian and they Malabar; so I picked out the most intelligent and well-read of them, and then sought out with the greatest diligence men who knew both languages. We held meetings for several days, and by our joint efforts and with infinite difficulty we translated the Catechism into the Malabar tongue. This I learnt by heart, and then I began to go through all the villages of the coast, calling around me by the sound of a bell as many as I could, children and men. I asembled them twice a day and taught them the Christian doctrine: and thus, in the space of a month, the children had it well by heart. And all the time I kept telling them to go on teaching in their turn whatever they had learnt to their parents, family, and neighbors.

Every Sunday I collected them all, men and women, boys and girls, in the church. They came with great readiness and with a great desire for instruction. Then, in the hearing of all, I began by calling on the name of the most holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and I recited aloud the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Creed in the language of the country: they all followed me in the same words, and delighted in it wonderfully. Then I repeated the Creed by myself, dwelling upon each article singly. Then I asked them as to each article, whether they believed it unhesitatingly; and all, with a loud voice and their hands crossed over their breasts, professed aloud that they truly believed it. I take care to make them repeat the Creed oftener than the other prayers; and I tell them that those who believe all that is contained therein are called Christians. After explaining the Creed I go on to the Commandments, teaching them that the Christian law is contained in those ten precepts, and that every one who observes them all faithfully is a good and true Christian and is certain of eternal salvation, and that, on the other hand, whoever neglects a single one of them is a bad Christian, and will be cast into hell unless he is truly penitent for his sin. Converts and heathen alike are astonished at all this, which shows them the holiness of the Christian law, its perfect consistency with itself, and its agreement with reason.

As to the numbers who become Christians, you may understand them from this, that it often happens to me to be hardly able to use my hands from the fatigue of baptizing: often in a single day I have baptized whole villages. Sometimes I have lost my voice and strength altogether with repeating again and again the Credo and the other forms. The fruit that is reaped by the baptism of infants, as well as by the instruction of children and others, is quite incredible. These children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous.

Saint Francis Xavier

Letter (to Superiors in Rome)

1543

______________________
Recess continues for several days; relevant news may be posted at any moment.

Maria, Virgo perpetua, templum Domini: ora pro nobis

Benedicta es cælorum Regina

Et mundi totius Domina,
Et ægris medicina;
Tu præclara Maris Stella vocaris,
Quæ Solem Iustitiæ paris,
A quo illuminaris.

Te Deus Pater,
Ut Dei Mater
Fieres, et ipse frater
Cuius eras filia,
Sanctificavit,
Sanctam servavit,
Et mittens sic salutavit:
"Ave, plena gratia."

Per illud Ave prolatum
Et tuum responsum datum
Est ex te Verbum incarnatum
Quo salvantur omnia.

Nunc Mater, exora natum,
Ut nostrum tollat reatum
Et regnum det nobis paratum
In cælesti patria.

Amen.

__________

(Recess for several days. Important news may be posted at any time.)

The Invisible is made visible

Quando la fede, in modo particolare celebrata nella liturgia, incontra l’arte, si crea una sintonia profonda, perché entrambe possono e vogliono parlare di Dio, rendendo visibile l’Invisibile.

...

The Gothic cathedral translates the aspirations of the soul into architectural lines, and is a synthesis between faith, art and beauty which still raises our hearts and minds to God today. When faith encounters art, in particular in the liturgy, a profound synthesis is created, making visible the Invisible, and the two great architectural styles of the Middle Ages demonstrate how beauty is a powerful means to draw us closer to the Mystery of God. May the Lord help us to rediscover that "way of beauty", surely one of the best ways to know and to love Almighty God.

Benedict XVI

Udienza Generale/General Audience

November 18, 2009

New link

Our blog has always linked exclusively to other blogs run by Catholics. That is why we have not linked to even very friendly Eastern Orthodox and Anglican blogs.

An exception will be opened for a very worthy cause: The Anglo-Catholic, a blog run by a member of the "Anglican Church in America" (the American province of the "Traditional Anglican Communion") in an endeavor to introduce his fellow Anglicans in America to the great gift represented by Anglicanorum Coetibus.